Building, grooming, and growing your ecosystem in Crossbeam has never been easier. With a library of data sources at your fingertips, you can instantly upload a CSV, connect to a CRM, or route data from your Data Warehouse to fortify your partner foundation in Crossbeam.
Let’s dive a bit deeper to see how you can use these different data sources based on some common use cases.
Crossbeam’s Partner Maturity Scale
Explorer-level Data Sources: Google Sheets or CSVs
Just getting to know who’s on Crossbeam and where you have overlaps? Cool, we’re here to help you during this exciting stage (full on butterflies). Uploading Google Sheets or a CSV file (Comma Separated Value) is a great way to get the collaborative wheels turning with your partners.
Pros and Considerations
Pros 👏 : Free and Fast. Both Google Sheets and CSV uploads are free to use and easily accelerate your account mapping efforts.
Google Sheets: You can easily map, manage, and dynamically update all of your account data from Google Sheets, right within Crossbeam.
CSVs: You can store unlimited CSVs in Crossbeam, keep versions organized, and data streamlined with built-in storage solutions. Once you’ve imported a CSV, you can use your data to create populations, reports, and grow your ecosystem intelligence. Set up your population from a CSV with this quick video tour.
Considerations⏳ : Time-sensitive. While CSV uploads are extremely helpful for one-off partner comparisons, they don’t go the distance like other data sources. CSVs are a static version of your data and will not be automatically refreshed with the latest account information. This means to be impactful beyond initial upload, your CSVs must be managed manually and consistently maintained.
Producer-level Data Sources: CRMs and Data Warehouses
CRM systems (HubSpot and Salesforce) and Data Warehouses (Snowflake) serve as a dynamic system of record in Crossbeam for your sales pipeline and customer base.
Unlike CSVs, data sources fueled by CRMs and Data Warehouses automatically update several times a day to keep your data current and accurate. With these data sources in place, your account mapping motions can move at the speed of your business.
Pros and Considerations
Pros 🚀 : Free, Fast, and Scalable. Using CRMs and Data Warehouses as a data source helps your Crossbeam ecosystem grow in lockstep with your business. Capture account changes in real-time and action deals as opportunities surface with scheduled data synchronizations each day. Extend your reach by operationalizing data from your CRM and/or Data Warehouse into populations for a complete, 360-degree view into your partner landscape. Then narrow in your focus to action the richest and ripest leads, in real-time. See how you can connect your CRM and create populations >
Considerations ⚙️ : This type of data source may require some light configuration and implementation. Chat us if you need help getting started!
Connector-level Data and Beyond: Advanced CRM Customizations
In our best Will Smith voice, “Gettin’ custom with it”. For customers making the leap from CSVs to CRM and Data Warehouse integrations, you can upgrade your account to pre-select fields the default fields you want in Crossbeam 🎉 .
With advanced filtering capabilities, you can create suppression streams, targeted account segmentation, or simply get more focused on the data you bring into Crossbeam. For Crossbeam users who have a CRM connected, you can customize these fields at any time - but filtering will not be applied retroactively.
Interested in using CRM Customizations? Send us a note in the chat to get the conversation started.
Pros and Considerations
Pros 🧐 : Better Segmentation. Keep data clean and organized by proactively removing unnecessary fields as you setup your CRM integration. During the implementation phase, customize the default fields you'd like to sync with Crossbeam for clean, crisp, and actionable account mapping. Is your CRM already connected? No sweat. Just re-sync your CRM and go through the same customization motions to orchestrate preferred data streams moving forward.
Considerations ⚙️ : This type of data source may require some light configuration and implementation. Chat us if you need help getting started!
For everything else, you can also browse our library of data sources by following the link to our Data Sources page in the top-right menu of the platform.
💡 Tip
Sometimes less is more. When connecting your CRM for the first time, it pays to be picky with your data. Use the advanced CRM customization to cut through the clutter and action your most valuable partner ecosystem data.