A 360 Degree View Of SaaS Integration

A 360 Degree View of Integration: 

Overcoming Glue Integration Challenges for ISVs and End

Users

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Rick Nucci, Co-founder & CTO

Agenda

Agenda

• Market/Technology Leader in Cloud Integration

• Founded in March 2000

• 400+ Clients, 11 Countries

• Backed by FirstMark Capital

AWARD WINNING TECHNOLOGY

-- SYS-CON “Top 100 Cloud Players”

Who is Boomi?

The Glue Between the Enterprise Cloud Ecosystem

What We Do

Connect Once – Integrate Everywhere™

Industry’s Largest Open Network

Agenda

Circa late 90’s

Circa early 2000’s

Source: BPM Institute

Obligatory “SOA Stack”

• This stuff is hard!

• Only accessible to highly specialized/expensive resources

• Re-create the wheel over and over

• Only largest companies participate

What was the problem?

• Closed systems + vendor priorities = API Optional

• Just write to the database!

• Application customization disconnected from API

• Wildly disparate integration standards, invocation models, programming styles

Roots of Integration Complexity

• Closed systems = no traction

• API not optional

• There is no database!

• Multitenancy architecture forces customizations to manifest in API

• We at least agree on a few things

• HTTPS, SOAP/WSDL, REST/WADL

Today: SaaS Connectivity

• ISV’s generally focus on product/platform features

• SI’s fill critical void of deep vertical knowledge

• SI’s fill critical void of PaaS development

• SI’s are transitioning:

• From: send army onsite for months

• To: 90%+ remote engagement, highly leveraged

Today: The New SI

• Who owns the integration problem?

• SaaS ISV – must solve during sales cycle

• Department purchasing SaaS: “I love your solution, show me how it connects to X”

Today: Big mentality shift

ISV’s have transitioned from

• “Here is the stack, good luck!”

To….

• Demo of pre-built integration

Ultimately to….

• Enable customers to try out the integration during trial

Today: Big mentality shift

Agenda

SaaS to Private Data Source

SAAS APPLICATION

TRADITIONAL LOCAL

NETWORK ENVIRONMENT

PUBLIC CLOUD COMPUTE

INFRASTRUCTURE (e.g. AMAZON

EC2)

SaaS to SaaS

YOUR SAAS APPLICATION

SAAS APPLICATION

SAAS APPLICATION

SAAS APPLICATION

INTERMEDIARY(INTEGRATION AS A

SERVICE)

-- IMPORTANT --

These are multitenant API’s. Each tenant using each SaaS app will customize it, and need those customizations for their integrations. This is not “code once per app”!

What happens across these systems?• Data Synchronization

• Keep customer consistent across applications• Business Process Automation

• Minimize human involvement in high volume, low value tasks

• Mashup• Present unified view of data across

applications on the fly• Data Aggregation

• Maintain central data store for BI/Analytics

Primary Integration Patterns

Agenda

Indicators• Department implements first SaaS application• Disconnected from corporate IT

Best Practices• Justify integration investment• Calculate departmental labor cost to manually

enter data and cleanup errors

Ensure integration solution is SaaS like the app• Complementary pricing?• Can you try it out online before buying?• How are upgrades handled?

Leverage pre-built integration if possible

Phase 1: Departmental Initiatives

Financials

CRM

HRIS

SAAS APPLICATIO

N

SAAS APPLICATIO

NSAAS APPLICATIO

NSAAS APPLICATIO

NSAAS APPLICATIO

N

PAAS APPLICATION

Web app

Phase 2: Shift to Enterprise

Spaghetti 2.0???

It’s not about “hosting” integration.

Financials

CRM

HRIS

SAAS APPLICAT

ION

PAAS APPLICAT

ION

SAAS APPLICAT

ION

SAAS APPLICAT

IONSAAS

APPLICATIONSAAS APPLICAT

ION

Web app

SAAS INTEGRATION PLATFORM

-- Centralized development, deployment, administration-- De-centralized runtime

Agenda

Phase 1: Your APIPhase 2: Productization

SaaS ISV Best Practice

Key Success Factors• Your API is part of your product

• Owned by product management• Integrated into SDLC processes

• Don’t charge extra for your API• “Oh, you wanted outlets for your electricity?”

• Think self service• Free, open access to API and documentation

as part of product evaluation• Your customers will come up with smarter

uses of your API than you will

Phase 1: Your API

Best Practices for API Design

The SaaS API Blueprint

Aggregation of API design across SaaS community

Blueprint Assumptions:• Application is B not

C • Application contains

master data e.g. Customer/Employee

• Application is some but not all steps in a business process

• Application is commonly customized by end user

• Leads to N * 5 call proliferation• Harder maintenance & readability, must remember

conventions over time! (“add” or “create”?)• Other ways to declare which operations and objects

supports

Objects, not Operations

YES!

Objects

Customer

Contact

Employee

Operations

browse(obj)

read(obj)

edit(obj)

add(obj)

delete(obj)

NO!

OperationsbrowseCustomer()

readCustomer()

editCustomer()

addCustomer()

deleteCustomer()

browseContact()

readContact()

editContact()

Etc.

• Put semantics in the API not the documentation• Provide API’s for

• Available Objects• Distinguish base vs. custom if supported

• Fields + Definition of a given Object• Occurrences, data types, possible values• Group custom fields into explicit section of

object• Operations supported for a given Object

• WSDL won’t have all the pieces… • If used, generate dynamically based on tenant

Meta data vs. Documentation

• Version your API• Your customers won’t upgrade when you do• Make version part of URL, e.g.

• http://myapp.com/api/3.0• Query by last modified date critical

• Very common approach to capturing changed data • Gate API with consistent batching mechanism• Avoid use of arbitrary name/value pairs

• Creates reliance on documentation

Other API Best Practices

YES!

<CustomFields> <Terms>365</Terms></CustomFields>

NO!

<CustomField name=“Terms”> <Value>365</Value></CustomField>

Phase 1: Your APIPhase 2: Productization

SaaS ISV Best Practice

• Patterns of re-use will emerge across customer implementations

• Implement discovery process• Cross re-usability and market potential

• QuickBooks, Salesforce, Great Plains = GOOD• SAP = BAD

• Package up most popular integrations• What aspect of the integration will be unique from

one customer to the next?• Login cred., custom fields, options, etc.

• Bundle into your application

Phase 2: Productization

Agenda

35

Thank You!Rick Nucci

rick_nucci@boomi.com

Boomi801 Cassatt Rd. Suite 120

Berwyn, PA 19312

Boomi Inc. Confidential

Questions?