A Complete Guide to Freshservice Integration

Freshservice is the beating heart of your ITSM function, but that doesn’t mean it’s the only tool involved in this crucial workflow. IT teams sometimes have to do technical work in dedicated platforms outside Freshservice, while service requests might need to be exported to other tools for reporting and auditability. That’s where Freshservice integrations come in; they transfer data between Freshservice service requests and work items in other tools, streamlining your ITSM process.

Here’s everything you need to know about Freshservice integrations.

What is Freshservice?

Freshservice is an ITSM (Information Technology Service Management) solution built with enterprise organizations in mind. It allows IT teams to centralize the services they give to employees or customers, keeping initial requests, essential context, and resolutions in one place. With strong AI-powered features, it’s become a powerhouse for IT teams.

What is Freshservice integration?

A Freshservice integration connects Freshservice with other tools, bridging the gap between them so IT teams can collaborate more efficiently with other teams without long email chains or manually copying and pasting data between tools. These integrations can automatically push data from service requests to software development platforms, give leaders more visibility on IT trends, and more.

Freshservice is often integrated with tools like:

• CRM tools like HubSpot and Salesforce.
• Software development platforms like GitHub and Azure DevOps.
• Project management platforms like Jira, Asana, and Smartsheet.
• Other customer support or service apps like ServiceNow and Zendesk.

Why does Freshservice integration matter?

Integrating Freshservice with other tools creates significant benefits for your IT teams, such as:

• Improved average resolution time: When IT teams don’t have the context they need, service requests get stuck. Integrating Freshservice with other tools means IT teams know what’s happening in other tools even as they work.
• Better SLA compliance: For IT teams that provide services to external customers, SLAs are an essential metric. Integrations ensure essential information isn’t lost in translation, allowing IT teams to respond to issues more quickly.
• Stronger reporting: Freshservice is a great tool, but it’s not always the best platform to report on your IT team’s work. With the right integration, you can sync Freshservice data to your reporting tool of choice so stakeholders have more visibility on ITSM trends.
• Fuller context: Integration solutions let you centralize data from multiple tools in Freshservice, meaning IT teams can have access to everything from customer support tickets in other tools to software development projects and more.

4 types of Freshservice integration

Not all Freshservice integrations are the same. Some are designed to cover basic functionality while being easy to set up and use. Others allow for deep integration (i.e., supporting more fields and automating more actions) but require deep involvement from a technical team and significant time to deploy. Meanwhile, iPaaS solutions like Unito strike a balance between the two extremes, allowing you to get the best of both worlds.

Here are some of the most popular types of Freshservice integration:

• Built-in Freshservice integrations: The Freshservice app store offers integrations built by the Freshservice team for tools like Microsoft Teams and Slack, allowing updates and work from Freshservice to be pushed to these platforms automatically.
• Automation platforms: Tools like Zapier use if-this-then-that logic to automate simple actions across thousands of apps. This logic means Zapier users can easily build integrations for Freshservice in just a few clicks. While these integrations are more limited than other options, their sheer availability and ease-of-use are serious advantages.
• iPaaS: An iPaaS solution like Unito builds relationships between work items in Freshservice and other tools, allowing data from over 100 fields in Freshservice to sync automatically to other tools you use. These platforms allow for seamless collaboration across Freshservice and other tools.
• Agentic AI: Freshservice’s Freddy AI Agent can automatically take actions not just in Freshservice, but across e-commerce tools, social media platforms, and more. These AI agents are a natural first step for Freshservice users looking to automate repetitive tasks.

How to integrate Freshservice with Unito

Here’s a look at how an integration between Freshservice and other tools works with Unito.

Step-by-step integration guide

1. Connect tool accounts to Unito: After signing up for Unito, click +Create Flow and connect Freshservice and the tool you’re integrating to Unito.
2. Choose flow direction: Most Unito integrations support both one-way and two-way flows. Unito’s Freshservice integration only syncs data from Freshservice out to other tools, streamlining how work is dispatched to IT teams.
3. Set rules: Unito rules use trigger-action logic to filter out work items you don’t want synced or automate certain actions. Build a rule by setting the trigger Unito should look for and the action you want it to take.
4. Map fields: In most flows, Unito can automatically map fields in Freshservice with fields in other tools. From there, you can customize these mappings so they match your workflow exactly.
5. Launch your flow: Once you’ve mapped your fields, your flow is ready to launch. After an initial sync, Unito will check for changes in real-time.

Want to know more? Check out this in-depth guide to integrating Freshservice with Jira.

Challenges to watch out for when integrating Freshservice

Before you pick an integration, consider the following challenges.

Deployment times and technical resources

Some integration solutions are built to support just about every field in Freshservice and any tool you might need to integrate it with. But actually implementing these platforms can potentially take weeks, if not months, as they’re configured to your specific needs. That implementation also requires significant technical knowledge, whether that comes from your own IT team, third-party consultants, or an integration vendor. Choosing the wrong integration solution can be a significant investment that takes time to achieve a positive ROI.

Integration depth

A “deep” integration supports more fields and can automate more actions than other integrations. While a deeper integration can seem like a better investment on the surface, that’s not always the case. Deeper integrations typically involve more complex and lengthy deployment — with only a few exceptions. When researching an integration solution, make sure it’s deep enough to support your workflows without reaching a level of complexity that makes it too difficult to use.

Authentication and security

Integration solutions need to access Freshservice and the other tools you use, often in the same way you access them. This creates an inherent security vulnerability you wouldn’t have to worry about without an integration. That said, most integration vendors are aware of this, ensuring data security with measures like data encryption and prompt incident response.

How to keep Freshservice integrations secure

Freshservice integrations move data between service requests and work items in other tools, which makes data security especially important.. Here are some things to keep in mind so you can keep these integrations secure.

Compliance

Depending on your industry and your jurisdiction, the way you handle data has to comply with various regulations and best practices. If you’re located — or have customers in — California, for example, you have to abide by the state’s California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). Similarly, specific industries have their own regulations, like the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). When researching integration solutions, make sure they comply with any regulations you need to abide by.

Access control

Access control refers to measures you take to limit who can and can’t access a platform. Before you deploy an integration solution, you need to consider two things:

1. Who will have access to it.
2. If the platform can support the level of access control you need.

Some platforms allow for precise, role-based access control, while others are more limited. Make sure the platform you choose meets your needs.

Security certifications

Certifications like SOC 2 Type 2 are data security frameworks that achieve two things:

1. Give companies guidelines to follow for keeping data safe.
2. Allow vendors to show their commitment to data security.

When you’re researching integration vendors, review their security certifications to ensure their commitment to data security matches yours.

Best practices when integrating Freshservice

When rolling out your first Freshservice integration, consider these best practices:

1. Start with a small pilot project between a few Freshservice service requests and work items in another tool. This lets you get a feel for an integration solution before it has access to all your organization’s data.
2. Evaluate the results of a pilot project before implementing integrations at scale. That way, you can customize an integration solution to support your workflows based on what you’ve learned.
3. Consider if you need an integration solution that requires technical knowledge to use — restricting access to IT teams — or if you need something more accessible for all teams.
4. Review the integration vendor you’ve chosen at least yearly to ensure they’re competitive compared to the broader market.
5. Use built-in Freshservice integrations where possible to enhance any third-party integration solution you use.

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