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Salesforce Data Cloud Series Part 3: What the Informatica Acquisition Means for Enterprises That Count on Data Trust and Compliance

In regulated sectors like Medtech, Life Sciences, Manufacturing and IoT, innovation doesn’t begin with data—it begins with trusted data. These industries already invest heavily in ensuring data confidence, compliance, and actionable insights, all while navigating complex regulatory requirements. Salesforce’s $8 billion acquisition of Informatica becomes particularly significant within this landscape. More than just a tech merger, this move signals enhanced data governance for Salesforce, accelerating enterprise data trust and compliance across industry standard regulations like GDPR, HIPAA, and DSAR. In this final post of our Salesforce Data Cloud series, we explore what this acquisition could unlock for organizations managing complex, regulated data environments, and for the future of trusted, scalable enterprise data. In case you missed previous installments in this series, here’s Part 1: The Foundation for AI-Ready Data, where we covered the essential building blocks of Salesforce Data Cloud and Part 2: AI-Ready Data in Action, where we explored critical use cases for AI-ready data across Medtech, High-Tech & IoT, and Manufacturing. What Informatica Brings to This Acquisition: Scalable Trust and Intelligent Governance Informatica has long been recognized as a leader in enterprise-grade data management. According to Gartner’s 2024 Magic Quadrant for Data Integration Tools, Informatica was positioned as a Leader for the 19th consecutive year, ranked highest for its ability to execute and furthest for completeness of vision. Before we explore the potential significance of this acquisition, it’s worth looking at what Informatica already delivers. Known for its depth in data management, Informatica brings a mature set of capabilities that help enterprises across highly regulated industries govern, clean, and protect data at scale. Data Governance and Transparency Informatica provides tools for data cataloging, metadata management, and lineage tracking that show how data moves through the enterprise. This visibility supports audit readiness, simplifies compliance reporting, and improves oversight across increasingly complex data estates. Data Quality and Profiling With automated profiling, cleansing, and anomaly detection, Informatica ensures that data used in AI, analytics, and operations is consistent and reliable from the start. That means fewer delays, less manual cleanup, and stronger confidence in downstream decisions. Automated Privacy and Compliance Management Informatica streamlines regulatory compliance with built-in tools for data masking, anonymization, and consent tracking. It also supports DSAR (Data Subject Access Requests) compliance, required under privacy laws like GDPR and CCPA, helping teams respond quickly to individual data rights requests without tying up valuable resources. These enterprise-grade Master Data Management capabilities make Informatica a key enabler of data trust and governance in industries requiring accuracy, transparency, and compliance. Building on Salesforce’s Existing Strengths A Unified AI-Data Platform Salesforce already offers a robust suite of tools—Einstein AI, Data Cloud, MuleSoft, and Tableau—that help enterprises unify data, extract insights, and operationalize intelligence across the business. With Informatica, these capabilities are reinforced by deeper governance and quality controls that support more reliable, scalable data strategies. Data Cloud: Informatica’s Master Data Management (MDM) creates “golden records” by resolving duplicate profiles and standardizing key attributes. This enables a single, trusted view of customers and stakeholders—critical for personalization, reporting, and compliance. MuleSoft: With cleaner, governed data flowing through APIs, integrations are more dependable. This reduces failure points between systems and improves the consistency of data powering downstream workflows. Tableau: In addition to visualization, users can access metadata such as data lineage, quality scores, and compliance status. That context improves confidence in analytics and supports audit-readiness. Together, these capabilities strengthen Salesforce’s role as the backbone of enterprise data strategy—supporting more accurate reporting, faster automation, and smarter AI-driven outcomes. The Opportunity: Real-World Impact of Improved Trust & Governance The integration of Informatica’s capabilities into the Salesforce ecosystem could help enterprises build governed, high-confidence data workflows with greater scale and precision. Here’s a glimpse into what that could look like across regulated industries. MedTech & Life Sciences Clinical trials, patient records, EHR systems, and connected devices generate massive volumes of sensitive data, often trapped in disconnected systems. Informatica’s Master Data Management (MDM) creates unified “golden records” (consolidated, accurate customer or patient profiles) that resolve duplicates and enable cleaner, audit-ready datasets. Paired with Data Cloud’s real-time activation, organizations could spend 20% less time chasing orders, respond faster to care delivery needs, and automate HIPAA compliant workflows. The result: faster clinical decisions, fewer data risks, and greater patient trust. Manufacturing & IoT Siloed ERP data, supply chain systems, and production line sensors often lead to costly inefficiencies and blind spots. With Informatica’s data integration and quality layers feeding governed data into Salesforce and Einstein AI, predictive agents can proactively surface issues—whether it’s a delayed component delivery or a machinery failure. Early pilots show up to 30% efficiency gains in sales and production planning with significant cost savings from predictive maintenance powered by cleaner, more consistent data. Compliance at Scale From GDPR to HIPAA, compliance requires continuous and verifiable control over how sensitive data is accessed, processed, and stored. Informatica’s privacy tools automate consent tracking, data masking, and DSAR fulfillment, ensuring AI systems only act on data that meets privacy policies. For example, if consent is missing or inconsistent, the system can automatically pause related processes—minimizing compliance risks and reducing manual audit efforts. The combination of these platforms and strategic implementation could empower enterprises to move beyond data firefighting towards faster, more confident decisions on trusted, compliant data. CLAIRE + Agentforce: Context-Aware AI That Operates With Confidence Informatica’s CLAIRE engine brings deep, metadata-driven intelligence to enterprise data. When combined with Salesforce’s Agentforce platform, it powers a new generation of AI agents—ones that don’t just access data, but understand the context, rules, and relationships that govern it. Imagine asking, “Why is revenue different in Salesforce vs. Tableau?” Instead of raising a ticket for manual investigation, an AI agent powered by Claire GPT could trace the data lineage, flag the inconsistency, and suggest next steps with complete transparency. Or consider an AI agent detecting an anomaly in an IoT device, checking regulatory impact, verifying service policies, scheduling a technician, and notifying the customer. Every action is logged to meet compliance requirements, and decisions

How IronRidge Boosted Sales Agility and Forecast Accuracy with N28’s Manufacturing Cloud Expertise

March 27, 2025 n28tech

Customer Overview Company Name: IronRidge, Inc. Industry: Solar Company Size: 200+ employees Mission Statement: At IronRidge, we empower customers to be solar heroes by providing the most innovative and comprehensive products and services. Our mission is to make solar energy accessible, efficient, and reliable for businesses and homeowners alike. Key Services/Products: Solar Racking & Mounting Solutions Mounting hardware for solar modules Solar energy solutions for residential and commercial applications Website: www.ironridge.com Social Media: LinkedIn The Challenge IronRidge faced several operational challenges that hindered their ability to effectively manage product sales and revenues. With rapid growth in the solar industry, they needed to stay ahead of changing market conditions while ensuring efficiency across their sales processes. Key challenges included: Lack of visibility: There was little visibility into planned vs. actual product revenues and quantities. This lack of real-time data made it difficult to track sales performance and adjust forecasts accordingly. Inefficiency in sales planning: With no centralized system, the team struggled to adjust their sales plans dynamically in response to real-time data. Whether dealing with production issues or evolving market conditions, the team found it challenging to stay agile. CRM inconsistencies: The team faced difficulties in keeping their CRM updated with new and revised products, leading to miscommunications and missed opportunities with customers. Tracking issues: There was no clear system to track changes made by colleagues during quarterly planning, leading to confusion and lack of accountability when reviewing product performance and sales strategies. Customer Quote Why N28 Technologies? When IronRidge began searching for a solution, they turned to N28 Technologies for their proven track record with Salesforce, manufacturing domain expertise, and ability to provide comprehensive solutions that could integrate seamlessly with Iron Ridge’s existing systems. What stood out: Industry Expertise: N28 Technologies demonstrated a deep understanding of the solar industry and the specific needs of companies like IronRidge. Technical Proficiency: With a strong team of experts, N28 had the technical skills to implement a customized solution that would integrate with IronRidge’s existing CRM and ERP systems. Reputation & References: Positive reviews and testimonials from past clients gave IronRidge confidence in N28’s ability to deliver on time and within budget. Effective Communication: Throughout the partnership, N28’s clear communication and collaboration efforts ensured that both teams were aligned on objectives and expectations. Adaptability: N28 proved to be flexible in responding to evolving requirements and was quick to adjust the project scope as new challenges emerged. Project Management: N28’s use of established project management processes ensured that the integration was completed smoothly, with clear timelines and milestones. The Solution To address IronRidge’s challenges, N28 Technologies implemented an advanced sales management system that leveraged Salesforce Manufacturing Cloud and integrated seamlessly with the company’s existing CRM, ERP, and other customer data systems. This solution was designed to streamline sales processes, improve accuracy, and provide real-time insights into product performance. Key features of the solution included: Analytics Dashboard: A comprehensive, at-a-glance dashboard displayed planned vs. actual product revenues and quantities, enabling quick identification of discrepancies and allowing for immediate corrective actions. Dynamic Sales Planning: The system allowed for real-time adjustments to sales plans based on up-to-date data, enabling the sales team to respond quickly to market conditions, customer needs, and production issues. Real-Time CRM Updates: The system ensured that the sales team had access to the latest product information with immediate updates in the CRM, enhancing their ability to engage with customers accurately and efficiently. Automated Order Fulfillment Updates: The system automatically updated product quantities based on fulfilled orders, reducing the risk of manual data entry errors and ensuring that inventory levels were always up to date. Product Performance Insights: Detailed reports provided valuable insights into product performance across customer accounts, enabling IronRidge to make more informed, market-driven decisions. Change Tracking: A robust change tracking feature allowed the team to monitor modifications to revenue and quantity numbers during quarterly planning, promoting transparency and accountability. The Results With the new sales management system in place, IronRidge was able to significantly improve their sales processes, CRM accuracy, and decision-making capabilities. Key results included: 30% Improved Sales Efficiency: The sales team became more agile, able to quickly adapt to market shifts and production delays, leading to a smoother sales cycle and increased customer satisfaction. Data-Driven Decisions: The ability to access real-time data allowed the team to make more accurate forecasts and better align their sales strategies with actual market conditions. Forecast Accuracy: Achieved company initiative of attaining forecast accuracy of +/- 10% of target Enhanced Collaboration: The change tracking and real-time CRM updates improved team collaboration, with everyone staying aligned on key metrics and objectives. Future Plans IronRidge is focused on expanding its capabilities by deploying an Advanced Manufacturing Cloud solution to further enhance their feature set. Their goal is to leverage multi-level data aggregation to gain deeper insights into sales performance across customer segments, regions, and product lines. This will enable them to make even more informed, data-driven decisions, especially when assessing forecasting accuracy. Additionally, the company plans to integrate automated account tracking, which will provide real-time visibility into sell-through trends. This will empower the sales team to proactively address performance changes and continue to improve customer satisfaction. By refining this solution, IronRidge is laying the foundation for scalable growth and operational excellence, and plan to strengthen their partnership with N28 Technologies to enhance their capabilities on Manufacturing Cloud, driving their business forward.