Dell would typically never make it to a shortlist of system integrators for organisations looking to integrate existing client-server applications with SaaS solutions, or to integrate SaaS solutions with each other. However, we do know from our current research programme that many organisations wish to develop these skills in-house and would like to use pay-per-use platforms to help them. Boomi, the application integration platform, acquired by Dell last year, is a single instance, multi-tenanted SaaS platform for EAI which just might fit the bill.
Basically Boomi enables you to go in to its website to design, develop and deploy application integration in the Cloud and then use the company’s AtomSphere technology to deploy on a runtime engine anywhere: in a public Cloud, behind firewalls in on-premise systems and then manage the integrated solution from the Cloud. Boomi provides capabilities such as end-to-end tracking of volume usage for the system. It also indexes integration maps as they are built so that when a new user comes onto the platform, 80% of the mappings are already there which automates a tedious part of the process. Going forward Boomi expects to map the best business process workflows to further speed up the integration process.
There are already 500 customers for Boomi including Enterprise Community Partners, a provider of development capital and expertise in the US which is embarking on a journey to modernise its internal applications and infrastructure. A core component to Enterprise’s strategy is to leverage the Cloud so their IT resources are focused on enabling business processes—not managing IT infrastructure and servers. A critical decision early in this journey was to select an integration platform to support this vision and the migration. Key requirements included:
- Ability to support integrations between Cloud-based applications and Cloud to on-premise applications
- Flexibility and speed in developing new integrations with rapidly-changing business requirements
- Extensive abilities to manipulate (e.g. transform, cleanse, de-dupe) data during integration
- Centralised, self-documenting tool for maintaining integrations
- Centralised operations management of deployed integrations
Rather than select an integration platform in the abstract, Enterprise started with a specific integration project to validate requirements and test a solution fit. This compliance project involved integrating financial data from an outside data collection vendor’s FTP server into PeopleSoft Financials and occupancy records into a custom compliance application. In so doing they replaced the time consuming manual processes of data collection and data entry which required the hiring and paying of contract staff each quarter.
Enterprise evaluated five integration platform providers. After putting all five through an evaluation, Boomi AtomSphere was chosen because it best matched Enterprise’s Cloud vision, delivered better overall ease of use, and enabled centralised management of all deployed integrations.
Another Boomi customer is Mindjet, a US headquartered, Cloud-based, software development company. They decided to include Boomi AtomSphere in their implementation of Salesforce CRM & Support in order to integrate it with NetSuite. This integration project included a bi-directional integration of their price book, opportunities and customer data/orders between Salesforce and NetSuite. By using Boomi’s centralised management and data auditing capabilities, the company’s director of business applications is developing an integration governance model to meet future compliance reporting requirements for Sarbanes Oxley. Mindjet selected one of Boomi’s System Integration partners, WDCi, to support them in their implementation of the integration of NetSuite and Salesforce.
The interesting thing about WDCi is that they are a small Australian headquartered company that are part of the new generation of system integrators operating in Cloud delivery mode. Delivery is entirely through the network and you pay per use of its Rapid Integration Offering which is provided as a small onsite component or as Software as a Service. Bob Moul, founder, president and CEO of Boomi, makes the point that the modus operandi of this new generation of system integrators is focused on rapid integration, not a “land and expand headcount” strategy. All of which is very different from the traditional SI models of, say, Capgemini and Accenture - the new best friends of Salesforce.com.
Now that Moul and Boomi are part of Dell, strategic conversations are opening up with larger enterprise accounts. The AtomSphere capability is useful and suits the requirements of many CIOs looking to move SaaS from tactical adoption to a more considered enterprise-wide usage. And the company’s partnerships with rapid Cloud integrators such as WDCi mean that if you do need external help you can get it without having to pay traditional SI fees. If you want to have a play and check it out yourself, click here to register for a free trial.
