The new, new thing – Next-Gen SaaS Integration
Document: Adeptia Unveils Next Generation SaaS Integration Solution . (1 page, 5 mins to review).
Traditional SaaS integration solutions have focused on just moving data in and out of SaaS applications. This approach may be fine for some scenarios such as data migration, reporting or synchronization. However, it is quite limiting because real world business problems require users to interact with data flows to review information, make decisions and route tasks. So, Adeptia has extended its existing SaaS Integration solution to allow SaaS applications to be integral part of customer’s business process flows.
For example, an order management process may require moving orders from Salesforce.com to an on-premise ERP system when a sale is completed and order won. However, this process would typically require workflow steps for business users to review and configure the order. A process flow such as this with multiple user workflow steps can be easily and rapidly configured in Adeptia. Adeptia offers an SOA-based, code-free approach with built-in connectivity to many SaaS applications such as Salesforce and NetSuite.
Data integration market has evolved over the last few years as more and more companies have realized that the business problems they were trying to solve by implementing data bridges did not really do the full job. Most problems require solutions that are more complex than just moving the bits and bytes. They require the data to be validated before it can be processed, errors need to be handled, notifications sent automatically on exceptions, information presented to business users to review and make decisions etc. etc. These solutions quickly grow beyond the capabilities of typical “integration products”.
Complete solutions require flexibility to handle various situations and scenarios and this typically requires a process-centric, services-based technology that includes human workflow capability. Integration-centric process management products, such as Adeptia, are best suited for these situations.
1 comment November 17, 2008
Integration Options for SaaS Vendors
Document: SaaS Integration for Vendors. (11 slides, 5 mins to review).
As Software as a Service (SaaS) adoption has grown exponentially over the last few years, many customers using hosted applications have started asking the SaaS application vendors to provide data integration and connectivity capabilities. For various reasons, mainly driven by business needs, customers are looking to tightly integrate their data in the SaaS app with their on-premises back-end systems and databases.
There is an excellent article on this growing need in the Oct 20th, 2008 issue of InformationWeek by Mary Hayes Weier: SaaS Integration: Real-World Problems, And How CIOs Are Solving Them.
At Adeptia in recent months we have encountered an increasing demand from our customers for easy, fast and flexible SaaS integration solutions. Primarily these have centered around integration requirements from customers using Salesforce and NetSuite applications but now we see other SaaS apps as well as the whole market experiences growing adoption.
We have had numerous discussions with a number of SaaS vendors who are looking at how should they approach this whole issue of integration. It definitely seems to surprise the SaaS companies as they have mainly focused on creating the best, feature-rich application they could and have not given much thought to integrating the customer data with their internal systems.
Here are the key elements of advice we offer to these SaaS vendors:
- As with any other business issue, approach SaaS Integration as a STRATEGY and not a tactic.
- This means have an end goal in mind in terms of where you want to be with your integration capabilities and address the immediate customer need in a way (tactic) that puts you on path for that end goal.
- Address this need and grow your capabilities in an incremental but multi-phased approach.
- Bring in the experts since Integration is tough, difficult and complex.
In terms of options available to SaaS vendors, Adeptia offers the following framework:
- Option A: SaaS vendor provides integration services
- Option B: SaaS vendor publishes XML/Web Services interface
- Option C: SaaS vendor refers customers to Certified Partners
This framework is described in this document prepared by Adeptia (11 slides, 5 mins to review) and it covers the Pros and Cons of each option.
As SaaS and Cloud computing adoption grows over time, availability of viable integration options will be expected by customers of any SaaS provider. SaaS vendors who proactively take steps to implement a well-thought out integration strategy will be better positioned than those who treat it as an after-thought.
Add comment November 10, 2008
An Enterprise Architecture Framework for all seasons…
Document: Adeptia Enterprise Architecture Framework. (27 slides, 15 mins to review).
Over the years, as we sell and deploy our software for our customers, we are amazed to see how many companies do not have an Enterprise Architecture approach in place for their IT infrastructure. This is not just limited to smaller companies for whom an IT Enterprise Architecture (EA) may be an overkill but even many mid-sized to large businesses have not yet invested in putting an overarching enterprise architecture in place.
There are many reasons for not having this architecture in place but some of the main reasons we have observed are:
- Growth of business from when EA was not needed to now when it is
- Focus on day-to-day problem solving and short-term IT issues
- Focus on “must-have” needs rather than “nice-to-have” initiatives which is how EA is perceived
- Lack of skills in-house to drive, implement and manage EA
Although having an Enterprise Architecture in place is certainly not needed to successfully deploy Adeptia solutions, we recommend our customers to think about having fundamental practices of EA in place to get the maximum advantage from their investment in Adeptia. A well-executed Enterprise Architecture really gets the most value out of a process-centric and SOA-based software solution such as Adeptia.
Some of the benefits of Enterprise Architecture are:
- Aligns business strategy with technology investment
- Creates a vision and strategy for Information Technology
- “Blueprint” on how to view and approach IT projects
- Presents a Functional and a matching Technology view for every initiative
- Helps put a plan in place on how to get to the vision in an evolutionary, incremental way
- Provides a structure for consistent IT decision making
An Enterprise Architecture for each company would be unique as it will take into account its business model, strategic objectives, size of the business and IT applications and systems. Adeptia helps its customers by providing a “framework” to help them think about a model for how to design an EA that best meets their needs. Here is a document that describes the Adeptia Enterprise Architecture Framework. (27 slides, 15 mins to review). Please keep in mind this is only a “framework”, which is a roadmap or a starting point, and not a full-blown Enterprise Architecture.
This document recommends having two perspectives to an IT Enterprise Architecture: A Functional View and a Technology View. An EA would have the following four key elements:
- People
- Processes
- Systems
- Information
Each of these elements have a number of other attributes as defined in the document.
We have found that this framework provides an excellent starting point to companies that have not thought about Enterprise Architecture or need a high-level introduction to taking a consistent approach towards all their IT projects and initiatives.
Add comment October 28, 2008
