How to integrate Five9 with Salesforce for seamless workflow automation

If you’re sick of bouncing between tabs, copy-pasting call notes, or watching your agents waste time wrangling clunky software, this is for you. Integrating Five9 (the cloud contact center platform) with Salesforce can finally make your sales or support team’s day less painful. But it’s not always as “one-click” as the marketing makes it sound. Here’s how to actually get the two working together, what to watch out for, and how to keep your workflow as seamless as possible—without losing your mind.

Why Bother Integrating Five9 and Salesforce?

Here’s the deal: Five9 handles your calls, Salesforce handles your CRM. When they talk to each other, you can:

  • Pop up customer records during calls, so agents aren’t hunting for info.
  • Automatically log call activity in Salesforce (no more “I forgot to log that call”).
  • Trigger workflows—update fields, send follow-ups, create cases—based on real interactions.

You get better tracking, less manual work, and (if you set it up right) a much smoother experience for both your team and your customers.

But, as always, the devil’s in the details. Let’s cut through the fluff and get to the actual steps.

Step 1: Get Your Requirements Straight

Before you touch any admin dashboards, ask yourself:

  • What do you really need? Is it just screen pops? Call logging? Automated case creation?
  • Who’s using this? Sales reps? Support? Both? The answer changes how you set it up.
  • What Salesforce edition are you on? (Enterprise and up is best. Professional is possible but can be a pain.)
  • How locked-down is your org? Lots of Salesforce security? Custom objects? You’ll want admin buy-in early.

Pro tip: Write down your “must-haves” and “nice-to-haves.” It’ll keep you from getting lost in the weeds or overbuying features you won’t use.

Step 2: Make Sure You Have the Right Licenses and Access

You’ll need:

  • Five9 Admin access: To configure integration settings.
  • Salesforce Admin access: To install packages, manage users, and set permissions.
  • The Five9 for Salesforce adapter license: This is usually a paid add-on. Check your contract.

Watch out: Some older Salesforce orgs or trial environments don’t play nicely with telephony integrations. Test in a sandbox if you can.

Step 3: Install the Five9 Salesforce Adapter

The real work starts here.

  1. Download the Five9 for Salesforce Adapter.
  2. Most folks get it from the Salesforce AppExchange. Double-check you’re getting the official package from Five9, not some random third-party tool.
  3. Install in a Sandbox First.
  4. Trust me, you don’t want to break your live org. Test it on a copy.
  5. Follow the Installer’s Prompts.
  6. You’ll grant permissions, assign users, and set up initial settings. Don’t just click “next” without reading.
  7. Double-check user permissions.
  8. Users need access to the Five9 adapter app, and permissions to whatever objects (Leads, Contacts, Cases) you want to pop or log.

Heads up: The adapter isn’t magic. You’ll still need to do a lot of config, and the UI can feel clunky. Go slow, and don’t skip the docs.

Step 4: Connect Five9 to Salesforce

Here’s where most integrations go sideways.

  1. Get your Five9 API credentials.
  2. Usually from your Five9 admin portal. Don’t share these around.
  3. Configure the connection in Salesforce.
  4. The adapter will prompt you for your Five9 domain, username, and password/API key.
  5. Test the connection.
  6. The adapter should confirm it can talk to Five9. If it fails, double-check network/firewall settings and credentials.
  7. Map your users.
  8. Match each Salesforce user to their Five9 account. This is how calls get attributed to the right person in the CRM.

Pro tip: If you’re using SSO or have custom login flows, expect a little extra work.

Step 5: Set Up Screen Pops and Call Logging

This is the “magic” users actually care about.

  1. Decide what should pop.
  2. Do you want Leads, Contacts, Accounts, or Cases to appear when a call comes in? You can customize the logic.
  3. Configure screen pop rules.
  4. Usually “if ANI matches Contact phone, pop the Contact record.” Fine-tune as needed.
  5. Set up call logging.
  6. Decide if you want every call logged, just completed calls, or specific call types.
  7. Map call data (duration, notes, outcome) to Salesforce fields.
  8. Test with real calls.
  9. Use test numbers and a couple of real agents. See if the right records pop, and if calls get logged where you want.

Reality check: “Out-of-the-box” pop-and-log rules are rarely perfect. You’ll almost always need to tweak them for your business.

Step 6: Automate Salesforce Workflows (If You Want)

Once calls are logging, you can get fancy. Examples:

  • Auto-create a Case when a support call comes in.
  • Assign follow-up tasks after a sales call ends.
  • Trigger alerts when a high-value customer calls.

How to do it:

  • Use Salesforce Flows or Process Builder to watch for call log records (Five9 creates them as custom objects or Activities).
  • Set up your triggers as you would for any other workflow.
  • Test. Then test again. (Automations can backfire if mapping isn’t right.)

Don’t overdo it: Automate the stuff that saves real time or reduces errors. Automated spam or unnecessary alerts just annoy everyone.

Step 7: Train Your Team and Roll Out

Don’t just flip the switch and hope for the best.

  • Give agents a cheat sheet on what’s new (pop-ups, logging, any changed processes).
  • Run a pilot with a small group before rolling out to everyone.
  • Make it easy to report bugs or weird behavior—there will be some.

What Works Well—And What Doesn’t

Works well:

  • Screen pops: When set up right, they save a lot of “wait, who is this?” time.
  • Accurate call logging: No more calls falling through the cracks.
  • Workflow triggers: Great for automating routine follow-ups.

Doesn’t work so well:

  • Laggy UI: Five9’s Salesforce adapter isn’t always snappy, especially in heavy orgs.
  • Complex workflows: The more you automate, the more you’ll need to debug.
  • Custom object support: Out-of-the-box, it’s tuned for standard Salesforce objects. Custom setups need extra work.

Ignore the hype: No integration is “set it and forget it.” You’ll need to tweak things as your team and process evolve.

Common Pitfalls (And How to Dodge Them)

  • Bad data = bad experience: If your phone numbers aren’t clean and standardized in Salesforce, pops and logs will fail. Clean your data first.
  • Forgotten permissions: Agents need the right Salesforce and Five9 permissions, or nothing works.
  • Too much automation: Over-automating leads to alert fatigue and weird bugs. Start simple.

Keeping It Simple (and Sane)

You don’t need every bell and whistle. Start with basic call pops and logging. Get feedback. Automate only the most painful manual steps. Fix what’s broken, ignore the rest. The best integrations are the ones your team actually uses—no more, no less.

Keep iterating, and don’t be afraid to ask for help (or call out the vendor) if something doesn’t work like it should. Tech is supposed to make life easier, not harder.