With the advent of new models of cloud computing and the pandemic, SaaS options have proliferated. Cloud computing simplifies software development from the beginning and operations for the teams that build and release those applications were streamlined. Yet, the recent adaption of FaaS, DevOps, Microservices changed the scenario.
The Google Suite is an easy example of SaaS integration where the separate applications are Google Sheets, Google Docs, Gmail, Google Drive etc.
This growth has also introduced certain challenges for the organizations which need to integrate these modernized applications with their existing IaaS-based resources.
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The Need for SaaS Development Services
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Technically the architectural difference between a dedicated server and IaaS is less, but the latter has certain limitations. Companies that host their applications on these IaaS platforms may face certain problems while integrating multiple SaaS products. Also, managing the credentials and keeping an eye on the data generated and stored in these services is not easy anymore. There are existing privacy rules, which make the automated handling of events to and from these external products quite challenging.
As a result, various third parties are emerging to offer SaaS development services, SaaS and integration tools to address specific business niche software applications need. Each tool solves different problems, has different software profiles, use cases and audiences. Explore some of the SaaS integration tools and capabilities available from different popular third-party vendors to decide which fits your company’s SaaS need. Presently SaaS offers a few common solutions for business, namely :
- Customer relationship management (CRM)
- Email and social collaboration
- Content management
- Enterprise resource planning (ERP)
- Human resources management (HRM)
Before planning to deploy a larger idea, your existing IaaS platform and SaaS application demands evaluation. SaaS application consulting ensures that your SaaS application can utilize its full potential. Also, the consultation will help to optimize the usage of resources and the existing tech stack. Often the SaaS applications face performance issues. What more can be planned and deployed will be discussed in such consultation?
Insourcing specialized skilled manpower warrants quality control and optimize resource utilization. Furthermore, any integration of the modern-day demands close monitoring of security flaws. Most companies extensively support their clients.
What to Remember Around Integrating SaaS Applications
We can divide the integrators by brands, such as Microsoft Azure SaaS integrators, Google Cloud Platform SaaS integrators, and third party integrators. Enterprise-grade SaaS integration is a growing need for many web businesses. Connecting multiple SaaS apps can be proved to be expensive and time-consuming. Not all businesses have the required skilled IT staff to maintain each integration. The challenges can be :
- Incomplete solutions
- Improper integration
- Lack of control
- Lack of security
API driven SaaS integration with no or too little consideration of business needs is not ideal and may bring failure. An elegant SaaS ecosystem integration makes frictionless data flows with your B2B processes.
Third-party options for SaaS Integration
These days, there is plenty of integration platform of services offered by various standard companies. These days there are great websites where user-driven data-based comparisons of similar software are done. Companies like Simform, for example, support a wider range of IaaS platforms along with a standard set of services for SaaS integration and are suitable for medium to large size businesses. AppFlow and EventBridge are quite known for integrating on the AWS platform. MuleSoft has a set of connectors for multiple SaaS platforms.
Final Words
There are a good number of ready-to-use SaaS integration platforms. But for optimized business performance, we need to consider certain third-party services that can plan, develop, maintain and monitor the total ecosystem. This need in the era of complex FaaS and serverless is opening up the chance for specialized service providers around SaaS integration.
Hardik Shah is a Tech Consultant at Simform, a leading web app development company. He leads large scale mobility programs that cover platforms, solutions, governance, standardization, and best practices. Connect with him to discuss the best practices of software methodologies @hsshah_.
