How to integrate Bigtincan with Salesforce for streamlined workflows

If your sales team is drowning in tabs, lost content, or wasted motion between tools, you’re not alone. Connecting your content platform with your CRM can save a ton of headaches—if it’s done right. This guide is for sales ops folks, admins, or anyone who’s had to answer, “Where’s that deck?” one too many times. Here’s how to actually get Bigtincan and Salesforce talking to each other, what’s worth setting up, and what can be skipped.

Why bother integrating Bigtincan and Salesforce?

First, a quick reality check: integrations aren’t magic. They won’t fix broken processes, and they can create new headaches if you overcomplicate things. That said, connecting Bigtincan with Salesforce can:

  • Put the right sales content in front of reps, right inside Salesforce
  • Track content usage so you know what actually gets used (and what just collects digital dust)
  • Cut down on context-switching, so reps spend less time hunting and more time selling

But only if you keep it simple and focus on what your team actually needs. Let’s get into the nuts and bolts.

Prerequisites: What you’ll need before you start

Don’t waste time halfway through realizing you’re missing a license or a permission. Here’s what you need upfront:

  • Salesforce admin access: You’ll be installing apps and tinkering with settings.
  • Bigtincan admin access: Same deal.
  • API access enabled on both platforms.
  • A test Salesforce environment (sandbox): Seriously, don’t test in production.
  • A clear use case: Decide what you want to achieve. Showing content in Salesforce? Pushing activity data back to Bigtincan? Both? Write it down, keep it tight.

Pro tip: If your IT team likes to “lock things down,” loop them in early. You’ll save yourself a lot of permissions grief.

Step 1: Install the Bigtincan for Salesforce app

Let’s start on the Salesforce side. Bigtincan provides a managed package for Salesforce, which is the quick way to get the basics working.

  1. Log into your Salesforce environment (again, use a sandbox first).
  2. Go to the Salesforce AppExchange.
  3. Search for “Bigtincan for Salesforce” and click “Get It Now.”
  4. Install the package for admins only at first. (You can roll it out to users later, after testing.)
  5. Follow the prompts to finish installation.

Heads up: If you run into permission errors, check that your Salesforce user has “Modify All Data” and “Install Packages” permissions.

Step 2: Connect Salesforce to Bigtincan

Now let’s hook up Salesforce to your Bigtincan instance.

  1. Open Bigtincan as an admin.
  2. Navigate to the Integrations section (naming may vary slightly depending on your version—look for “Integrations” or “Connected Apps”).
  3. Find the Salesforce connector and start the setup.
  4. You’ll be prompted for Salesforce credentials. Use an integration user (not your personal admin account, unless you want to get locked out later).
  5. Authorize the connection. Bigtincan will ask for permissions—review them, but you’ll need to accept most if you want the integration to actually work.

What if you hit a wall? - OAuth errors are common. Double-check your API permissions in Salesforce. - If you see timeout messages, make sure your firewall isn’t blocking the connection.

Step 3: Configure what data flows between systems

Here’s where you can get bogged down. Resist the urge to sync everything and the kitchen sink.

The basics:

  • Content surfacing: Show relevant Bigtincan content on Salesforce records (Accounts, Opportunities, etc.)
  • Activity tracking: Push info back into Salesforce about what content was viewed or shared.

How to set it up:

  1. In Bigtincan, map your content to Salesforce objects.
  2. For example, you can map a “Sales Playbook” to show up on Opportunity records.
  3. Stick to 1-2 key objects to start. You can always expand later.
  4. Set up rules for what content appears where.
  5. Use criteria like Opportunity stage or Account type.
  6. Don’t overcomplicate: if reps see 20 options, they’ll just ignore it.

Ignore for now: - Fancy automations that push every last activity into Salesforce. This just clutters up the CRM and makes reporting a nightmare. - Two-way sync of everything. Keep it simple: surface content, track usage. That’s 90% of the value.

Step 4: Add Bigtincan components to Salesforce page layouts

Time to make this visible for your users.

  1. Go to Salesforce Setup.
  2. Find the Lightning App Builder.
  3. Edit the page layout (for Opportunity, Account, or whatever object you chose).
  4. Drag the “Bigtincan Content” component onto the layout.
  5. Save and activate.

Reality check: Don’t stick the widget down at the bottom of the page. Put it where reps actually look, or it’ll never get used.

Step 5: Test with real-life scenarios

Before you roll this out to everyone, test with a few real use cases.

  • Impersonate a sales rep. Go through the workflow: does the right content show up? Is it easy to use?
  • Test content tracking. View or share a document—does the activity show up in Salesforce as expected?
  • Ask for feedback. Pull in a couple of sharp reps and see if they can break it (they probably will). Fix what’s broken before a big rollout.

Pro tip: Document what you did. You’ll thank yourself later when it’s time to onboard new admins—or troubleshoot.

Step 6: Roll out to users (and train them—briefly)

You don’t need a two-hour training deck. A short video or cheat sheet with screenshots does the trick.

  • Show reps where to find Bigtincan content in Salesforce.
  • Explain what gets tracked and why.
  • Remind them: less time searching, more time selling.

What to watch out for: - Reps ignoring the new widget. Sometimes it just takes a nudge, or a manager showing how it saves time. - Permissions issues. If some users can’t see the Bigtincan widget, check their profile settings in Salesforce.

The stuff that sounds cool but usually isn't worth it

Integrations can get overhyped. Here’s what most teams don’t need (at least at first):

  • Automatic record creation in Salesforce for every Bigtincan action. Sounds great. In reality? You’ll end up with a cluttered CRM and annoyed users.
  • Complex automation flows triggered by content views. Unless you’ve got a real use case (and someone to maintain it), skip it.
  • Custom code. The out-of-the-box integration does 90% of what most orgs need. Custom code is expensive and brittle.

Troubleshooting: Common gotchas

  • OAuth errors: Usually a permissions issue. Double-check both sides.
  • Content not showing up: Check that you’ve mapped it to the right Salesforce object and stage.
  • Activity tracking not working: Make sure your integration user has write access to the Activities object in Salesforce.
  • Users can’t see the widget: Profile or permission set issue.

If things look hopeless, both Bigtincan and Salesforce have support, but be prepared to spell out exactly what you’ve already tried.

Keep it simple and keep improving

If you’ve gotten this far, you’ve probably noticed the theme: integrations are only useful if they actually get used. Start small. Get the basics working. See what people use (or ignore), and tweak from there. Most of the value comes from just making good content easy to find—don’t get distracted by edge cases or fancy features you’ll never maintain.

Iterate, simplify, and save yourself some headaches down the road.