Cloud-based (or SaaS) applications are seeing an amazing adoption rate with SMBs and enterprise business department who find in them a low risk opportunity to easily deploy solutions that have an immediate impact on productivity and do not require an army of IT staff and consultants.
The majority of GetApp.com users are small business entrepreneurs or line of business managers of larger companies looking to quickly deploy business apps without the need of getting the IT department or any other third parties involved. The process is quiet simple, you search and compare apps in a business application marketplace, you decide on a shortlist, you use free trials to test a couple of preferred apps and get your credit card out to start a subscription. Et voila!
Short term gain but long term pain
This ease of procurement and deployment means technically unsophisticated users are using the cloud as a backdoor for deploying apps without consulting IT.
But some industry experts keep on arguing about the boomerang effect of uncontrolled SaaS applications deployment. One of the most heard is the issue of lack of data integration and co-existence between legacy apps and new SaaS apps.
In an excellent article from Processor on Cloud Data Integration Services the author Kurt Marko and other experts from cloud integration companies such as Informatica and Snaplogic are discussing the challenges of SaaS deployments, mostly in terms of data integration requirements.
Here is a quick summary of the risks and mitigation expressed in the article:
Cloud Apps main integration risks
- creating data management complexity due to the creation of a “SaaS sprawl”
- development of new islands of data not integrated to other cloud or ground apps
- selecting a cloud app provider that do not provide integration between their own apps and/or somebody else’s or offer a complete integration path, such as an open API
Main SaaS data integration issues to tackle
- migration or moving data from legacy systems to online providers
- replication or bidirectionally copying changed data between online environments and on-premises data repositories
- synchronization or replicating data in real time to allow applications living in each domain to access to the same information
- data quality or ensuring that information in each domain, cloud and ground, is not only consistent, but also standardized and not redundant
Ways to mitigate SaaS implementation issues
- cloud integration platforms such as Informatica, Boomi, Pervasive, Snaplogic, Cast Iron or Talend provide efficient solutions to the problem of data integration between applications (cloud to cloud and cloud to ground)
- a new breed of specialized companies such as Cazoomi are developing packaged connectors and workflows for mainstream apps such as NetSuite, MailChimp, Zendesk, Zoho, Microsoft Dynamics, Highrise CRM or SugarCRM
- new breed of data management services, such as the RunMyprocess integration hub, put business process management, data connectivity and integration paths in the cloud. A popular example is the development of a must expected shared inbox for Google Apps users
- companies already using data integration software can often utilize their incumbent solutions because most products have added support for data connectors to popular SaaS apps and cloud infrastructure services
The pace of adoption of SaaS solutions by small businesses and large enterprises is opening up a new market for data integration services, and smart incumbent channel players, specifically SIs, are jumping on this opportunity to make up for the negative impact that SaaS will have on their traditional business.
In summary
Moving business applications to SaaS, or adding web-based apps to the existing application portfolio of a company, exacerbates data management, migration, and synchronization challenges. Business buyers should be aware of this side effect. They should consult with IT prior to making a decision and when evaluating an app should always consider the integration commitment of the vendor, the support from data integration platform and the availability of integration packages from specialized integrators.
We are convinced at GetApp.com that integration is one of the most important selection criteria and we strive at always including information about app to app integration with all the solutions we present to our users.
To extend your honeymoon with your latest SaaS app wonder drug, think about integration and team up with IT to fight the nasty side effects.
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