As we know, backup solutions for Salesforce are incredibly expensive. At the same time, the built-in Salesforce data export is irritating and not really a working solution. When you start an export using the Salesforce tool, the download links expire within 48 hours, and the interface doesn’t allow you to download them all at once. This forces people to click on each download one by one and wait for hours, only to end up with a download that might not even complete successfully. All this makes data export an incredibly irritating process, and it seems that Salesforce has no plans to fix it, as they haven’t done so for years.

Fortunately, there is an easy-to-implement alternative using AWS solutions.

Automatic Salesforce data export with AWS AppFlow and S3

To address the problem above, I created a quick automation using Amazon’s AppFlow product. In short, it allows you to integrate Salesforce (or other SaaS products) and securely transfer data between Salesforce and AWS.

The connection is really straightforward, and once you set it up, you can tell AppFlow which Salesforce objects you want to transfer to AWS. In the next configuration step, you tell AppFlow to store your data in a private S3 bucket, obviously following strict security measures.

All these steps are done through a convenient UI, and it doesn’t take long before your data starts flowing into S3.

As an additional benefit, you can use the S3 Parquet file format, which stores data much more efficiently than CSV. The storage space required can be 3 to 10 times smaller than that of standard CSV files exported by Salesforce Data Export.

Another side benefit of this solution is that you can later query your Parquet data directly from S3 using Amazon Athena. In case you ever need such a perk…

Pricing

For a couple of GB, e.g. 10 GB, I expect the bill to be a couple of dollars per month. This can be further improved by using AWS Glacier for old backups. Glacier is another AWS solution that allows you to store files that you rarely need. They take longer to retrieve but are cheaper to store.

You should also know that AWS AppFlow charges based on the number of flows. For example, if you have 100 Salesforce objects, you will need to set up 100 flows to sync them automatically. This is an automated process, so don’t worry about having to click through all of them manually.

Considerations

1. Security: Obviously, the main consideration when building this is security. You don’t want your data exposed somewhere on the internet, sitting in a CSV file, as even Fortune 500 companies have made this mistake in the past. Therefore, you should implement all the security measures required by AWS and S3.

2. Flow Connections: When you set up the connection from AppFlow to Salesforce, you essentially tell AppFlow which objects to subscribe to and start syncing to S3. The inconvenience here is that any new custom fields you add to the objects will not appear automatically in AppFlow, so you should build additional automation to handle this.

3. Using the data: Restoring or using the data is no different from working with the old-school CSV data export provided by Salesforce, which allows you to download CSV files. Essentially, the Parquet files can easily be converted into CSV files, which you can download and use just like the files exported directly from Salesforce.

I’ve spent some time in the old Marketing Cloud to say this: it works, but it’s not exactly friendly. It can be slow, cluttered, and harder to navigate than it needs to be — especially if you’re just trying to get a campaign out the door.

That’s why Marketing Cloud Next already feels so promising, even without having used it in practice. The new interface looks cleaner, more modern, and far more intuitive. It seems like Salesforce finally focused on how marketers actually work, not just on adding more features.

Everything about Next suggests less friction — fewer clicks, clearer workflows, and a platform that doesn’t fight you at every step. If the experience lives up to how it looks, this could be a huge improvement over the old Marketing Cloud and a much nicer place to spend your day.

Here is some more information that I stumbled upon on Salesforce Ben:

https://www.salesforceben.com/6-reasons-why-marketing-cloud-next-may-really-be-the-next-big-thing-in-salesforce/

Understanding Process Automation

Process automation refers to the use of technology to perform recurring tasks or processes in a business without manual intervention. This can involve the use of software, artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, or other digital tools to streamline operations, reduce human error, and increase efficiency.

At its core, process automation eliminates repetitive and time-consuming tasks, allowing employees to focus on more strategic and creative activities. From small businesses to large enterprises, automation can be applied in various departments, including finance, human resources, customer service, and supply chain management.

Continue reading “Process Automation and Its Impact on Small and Medium Businesses”

Why Salesforce is Worth the Investment: Powerful Automation for Every User

At first, I was skeptical about Salesforce, mainly because of its high price tag. I wondered if it was truly worth the investment, especially when compared to building custom software solutions. Being a PHP developer capable of addressing business needs with custom solutions, I was particularly doubtful. I assumed that custom development or other affordable but basic CRMs would always be the better option. But then, I saw real-life examples of businesses cleverly using Salesforce to automate processes while focusing on their core operations—without the constant need to coordinate the development and delivery of custom software.

Over time, I realized that custom-made software comes with its own challenges—it’s expensive, takes longer to implement, and often requires multiple costly iterations to get right. Additionally, as business requirements evolve, companies relying on custom solutions remain dependent on programmers or software vendors for even the smallest updates.

Continue reading “Making the Case for Salesforce: From Skeptic to Supporter”

With the Spring ’25 release, Salesforce has introduced the ability to evaluate dynamic formulas directly in Apex using the new FormulaEval namespace. This enhancement provides developers with a flexible and efficient way to work with formulas programmatically—without having to rely on hardcoded formula fields or complex workarounds.

Previously, if developers needed to evaluate formulas dynamically, they often had to rely on custom logic, additional fields, or even external processing. Now, with this new feature, Salesforce allows us to create and execute formulas on the fly, significantly improving the efficiency and flexibility of Apex code.

Continue reading “Evaluating Dynamic Formulas in Apex – A Game Changer for Salesforce Developers”