“Architecting off platform.” Whuuutt 😱 whaddayamean?? Not ON Salesforce?!
Blasphemy!!
😅 I’m only being a tad facetious. Martin Gardner from Slalom kicking off tonight’s
#LDNArcs on this interesting topic.
With the help of otter and Claude, here are the notes from the cracking session:
**Why Go Off-Platform?**
• Governor limits (heap size, API calls, CPU timeout)
• Cost optimization (S3 vs Salesforce storage)
• Specialized capabilities (AI/ML, complex algorithms)
• Multi-system orchestration needs
**3 Core Integration Patterns:**
1️⃣ **Asynchronous Offload (Fire & Forget)**
Best for: Long-running processes
Example: Platform events → Heroku/Lambda → process → write back
✅ Resilient, decoupled
⚠️ Eventual consistency, needs user feedback
2️⃣ **Synchronous Augmentation**
Best for: Real-time data needs (credit checks)
✅ Immediate results
⚠️ Speed critical (~20 sec limit), tight coupling
3️⃣ **Data Virtualization**
Best for: External data in Salesforce (Connect/Data Cloud)
✅ Smooth UX, standards-based
⚠️ Limited triggers, reporting constraints
**Critical Gotchas:**
🔒 **Security**
– Never hardcode credentials.
Use Named Credentials, key vaults, Private Connect.
Users are your biggest vulnerability!
🛡️ **Sharing & Access Control**
– Salesforce sharing rules DON’T apply off-platform.
Must replicate manually.
Real challenge for document management and guest users.
⚡ **Idempotency**
– Design for duplicate messages.
Same message 10x = same result once.
🔄 **Eventual Consistency**
– Systems will be out of sync.
Build processes that handle this gracefully.
💥 **Error Handling**
– Implement exponential backoff, dead letter queues, and user-friendly messages.
Check out Nebula Logger for flow/Apex error logging.
**Case Study: Insurance Document Generation**
Problem: 20+ SOQL queries, CPU timeout
Solutions discussed: Batch Apex, query optimization, staging objects, Heroku, Data Cloud, GraphQL, AWS Lambda + S3
**Key Principles:**
✓ Go off-platform for the right reasons
✓ Choose the pattern that fits your use case
✓ Be pessimistic – plan for failure
✓ NEVER compromise security
✓ Consider legal implications (data residency, GDPR)
Thank you GoCardless for sponsoring this space in Barbican!
And thank you CGL Raksha Sanganee Sam Wadhwani MCMI ChMC Tom Bassett Martin Gardner
