In 2026, the CRM conversation has shifted.
It’s no longer about the most powerful platform, it’s about one your teams can actually use and get value from quickly. As businesses prioritise efficiency, alignment, and AI-driven growth, many are rethinking long-standing systems.
That’s why we’re seeing a growing trend: companies moving away from Salesforce in favour of more connected, user-friendly platforms like HubSpot.
So what’s driving the change?
Salesforce is often chosen for its flexibility, but over time, that flexibility can turn into complexity. Heavily customised setups, layered integrations, and reliance on developers can make even simple tasks slow and frustrating.
Instead of enabling teams, the CRM becomes something only a handful of specialists can manage. Day-to-day users struggle with clunky workflows, low visibility, and inconsistent data, leading to poor adoption and missed opportunities.
What was once built to scale the business ends up slowing it down.
Sales, marketing, and data shouldn’t live in silos.
Many Salesforce setups rely on multiple tools (Pardot, third-party integrations, and custom connectors) to function effectively. The result? A fragmented system where data is spread across platforms and teams lack a single, reliable source of truth.
This disconnect makes it harder to track the full customer journey, align sales and marketing efforts, and report on what’s actually driving revenue. Instead of working together, teams operate in silos, leading to gaps in insight, slower decision-making, and missed opportunities. In 2026, that level of fragmentation just isn't sustainable.
HubSpot takes a fundamentally different approach, bringing marketing, sales, service, and CRM together in one connected platform. Instead of stitching multiple tools together, businesses get a single system where data flows seamlessly across teams.
This unified setup means better visibility, cleaner data, and more accurate reporting. Teams can see the full customer journey in real time, collaborate more effectively, and make faster, more informed decisions.
In a world where alignment is critical, having everything in one place isn’t just convenient, it’s a competitive advantage.
No matter how powerful a CRM is, it fails if teams don’t adopt it. And for many businesses, complex Salesforce setups create friction: requiring training, workarounds, and constant support just to complete everyday tasks.
HubSpot flips that experience. Its intuitive interface and straightforward workflows make it easy for teams to get up and running quickly, with minimal reliance on technical support.
Resulting in higher adoption, better data quality, and a system that actually supports how teams work, not slows them down.
As AI becomes central to go-to-market strategy, businesses need a CRM that can support it natively. But many legacy systems weren’t built with AI in mind, making it harder to activate insights without complex setup or additional tools.
HubSpot is designed for this new era. With built-in AI features across automation, reporting, and content, teams can move faster, personalise at scale, and make smarter decisions using clean, connected data.
Switching to HubSpot isn’t just a platform change, it’s an operational shift.
Businesses move from fragmented systems to a single source of truth, from manual processes to streamlined automation, and from limited visibility to clear, actionable insights. Teams become better aligned, reporting becomes more reliable, and decision-making becomes faster and more confident.
Just as importantly, adoption improves. When teams actually use the CRM, data becomes cleaner, processes become consistent, and the entire go-to-market function operates more effectively.
When Airfinity made the move from a complex Salesforce setup to HubSpot, the impact was immediate - simplifying their systems, improving visibility, and creating a smoother experience across teams.
If you’re considering a similar transition, their story is a powerful example of what’s possible when you move from complexity to clarity.