Overview of integration strategies faced today by both SaaS ISV's and consumers of SaaS. How is the integration problem dealt with today, and what trends are emerging going forward?
2. Agenda
Who is Boomi?
The Evolution of Integration
The SaaS Integration Map
Best Practice for End Users
Best Practice for SaaS ISV
Q&A
3. Agenda
Who is Boomi?
The Evolution of Integration
The SaaS Integration Map
Best Practice for End Users
Best Practice for SaaS ISV
Q&A
4. Who is Boomi?
AWARD WINNING TECHNOLOGY
• Market/Technology Leader
in Cloud Integration
• Founded in March 2000
• 400+ Clients, 11 Countries
-- SYS-CON “Top
100 Cloud Players”
• Backed by FirstMark
Capital
5. What We Do
The Glue Between the Enterprise Cloud Ecosystem
7. Agenda
Who is Boomi?
The Evolution of Integration
• From closed systems to self service
The SaaS Integration Map
Best Practice for End Users
Best Practice for SaaS ISV
Q&A
10. What was the problem?
• This stuff is hard!
• Only accessible to highly
specialized/expensive resources
• Re-create the wheel over and over
• Only largest companies participate
11. Roots of Integration Complexity
• Closed systems + vendor priorities =
API Optional
• Just write to the database!
• Application customization
disconnected from API
• Wildly disparate integration standards,
invocation models, programming
styles
12. Today: SaaS Connectivity
• 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
13. Today: The New SI
• 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
14. Today: Big mentality shift
• 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”
15. 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
16. Agenda
Who is Boomi?
The Evolution of Integration
The SaaS Integration Map
• Where does integration start and end in the cloud ecosystem?
Best Practice for End Users
Best Practice for SaaS ISV
Q&A
17. SaaS to Private Data Source
SAAS
APPLICATION
TRADITIONAL PUBLIC CLOUD
LOCAL COMPUTE
NETWORK INFRASTRUCTURE
ENVIRONMENT (e.g. AMAZON EC2)
18. SaaS to SaaS
YOUR SAAS
APPLICATION
SAAS
APPLICATION
INTERMEDIARY
(INTEGRATION AS A SERVICE)
SAAS
APPLICATION
-- IMPORTANT --
These are multitenant API’s.
Each tenant using each SaaS
app will customize it, and need
SAAS
those customizations for their APPLICATION
integrations. This is not “code
once per app”!
19. Primary Integration Patterns
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
20. Agenda
Who is Boomi?
The Evolution of Integration
The SaaS Integration Map
Best Practice for End Users
• Short and long term integration strategies
Best Practice for SaaS ISV
Q&A
21. Phase 1: Departmental Initiatives
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
22. Phase 2: Shift to Enterprise
SAAS
APPLICATIO
Web app
N
Financials
SAAS
APPLICATIO CRM PAAS
N
SAAS APPLICATION
APPLICATIO
NSAAS
APPLICATIO
NSAAS
APPLICATIO HRIS
N
24. It’s not about “hosting” integration.
SAAS
APPLICA
Web app
TION
Financial
s
SAAS
PAAS
APPLICA CRM
SAAS APPLICAT
TION
APPLICA
SAAS ION
TION
APPLICA
SAAS
TION
APPLICA
HRIS
TION
SAAS INTEGRATION PLATFORM
-- Centralized development, deployment, administration
-- De-centralized runtime
25. Agenda
Who is Boomi?
The Evolution of Integration
The SaaS Integration Map
Best Practice for End Users
Best Practice for SaaS ISV
• The SaaS API Blueprint
• Strategies for scale
Q&A
26. SaaS ISV Best Practice
Phase 1: Your API
Phase 2: Productization
27. Phase 1: Your API
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
28. 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
Best Practices for API Design
29. Objects, not Operations
YES! NO!
Objects Operations Operations
Customer browse(obj) browseCustomer() browseContact()
Contact read(obj) readCustomer() readContact()
edit(obj) editCustomer() editContact()
Employee
addCustomer() Etc.
add(obj)
deleteCustomer()
delete(obj)
• 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
30. Meta data vs. Documentation
• 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
31. Other API Best Practices
• 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
YES! NO!
<CustomFields> <CustomField
<Terms>365</Terms> name=“Terms”>
</CustomFields> <Value>365</Value>
</CustomField>
32. SaaS ISV Best Practice
Phase 1: Your API
Phase 2: Productization
33. Phase 2: Productization
• 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
34. Agenda
Who is Boomi?
The Evolution of Integration
The SaaS Integration Map
Best Practice for End Users
Best Practice for SaaS ISV
Q&A
35. Questions?
Thank You!
Rick Nucci
rick_nucci@boomi.com
Boomi
801 Cassatt Rd. Suite 120
Berwyn, PA 19312
35
Boomi Inc. Confidential
Editor's Notes
Integration path is very similar with traditional applications, regardless if they run in your local environment or a public cloud. Typically the integration runtime must be portable so it can reside behind the firewall and interact with these private data sources