Gone are the days when businesses leveraged solely on-premises solutions for their shop-floor operations. Such an approach to software deployment and usage has proven to be ineffective and resource-consuming, transforming the organization’s IT infrastructure into a costly, cumbersome, and unwieldy ecosystem lacking flexibility. Recognizing the shortcomings of this approach, companies have started to adopt Software as a Service (SaaS) in their workflows. This model provides enterprises round-the-clock access to cloud-based software hosted and maintained by vendors.
Among the many benefits this model introduces, its adoption brings the issue of SaaS connectivity to the forefront, which can be addressed through effective SaaS app integration. This article serves as a concise guide to SaaS integration, explaining the essence of SaaS software integration, highlighting the benefits of integrated SaaS software, revealing the potential challenges, and outlining essential data integration methods in SaaS.
What is SaaS integration?
Professional software products rarely operate as standalone solutions. Instead, they typically integrate into a connected enterprise ecosystem, allowing free data sharing across the organization. To enable all elements of the IT environment to exchange information, you must establish connections, allowing them to interact effectively. SaaS application integration, or SaaS data integration, involves creating such connections using advanced data integration tools.
Traditionally, a company’s SaaS integration strategy encompasses both internal and customer-facing scenarios. In the former, the app owner connects the products used within the organization’s routine operations. The latter ensures integration with SaaS applications utilized by the company’s clientele.
When delving deeper into the topic, you’ll discover that several synonymous terms are used to describe the process.
Are SaaS integration, app integration, and API integration distinct concepts?
In reality, the first two are nearly identical. Speaking of SaaS integration, the Software-as-a-Service model is brought into focus, specifying the nature of the cloud-based service delivery framework. When referring to app integration, you pinpoint the type of software products you intend to connect (although it may involve not only SaaS but also on-premises solutions).
API integration isn’t the process itself but rather one of the primary methods (alongside UI-based integrations) of performing SaaS integrations. Implementing it requires a team of qualified developers who determine how the apps will communicate by selecting APIs (usually RESTful APIs) as code-based instructions that identify the process of sending and receiving data between applications. Recently, this practice has been undergoing revolutionary changes with the appearance of specialized SaaS data integration platforms (or iPaaS platforms) that simplify API integrations for non-tech-technical users.
Why is SaaS integration important?
When enterprise apps can communicate seamlessly, it facilitates data synchronization across multiple platforms, enhances data management, and automates its transition from one application to another, eliminating the need for manual intervention. One of the examples of SaaS integration is linking the organization’s CRM platform with its AI and ML mechanisms, allowing the new system to incorporate incoming customer data into its machine learning workflows.
When appropriately executed by skilled professionals, SaaS application integration offers the following benefits:
Time-saving
With automatic data transfers, you can eliminate the need to manually re-enter information across applications or search through multiple apps for necessary data. Your employees' time saved can then be allocated to more urgent or creative tasks.
Error minimization
Manual data entry is time-consuming and prone to errors. Correcting these mistakes requires significant time and effort. However, you can avoid such headaches with accurate information automatically distributed across all apps within your integrated SaaS environment.
Unlimited scalability potential
Integration of SaaS software creates a flexible system that can scale alongside your business. You can seamlessly add new services and key features, ensuring their interaction with other elements and solutions.
Improved customer service
A streamlined workflow results in fast and error-free service, which customers value highly. Your products will deliver more value to clientele, unlocking additional use cases, increasing customer satisfaction, and boosting retention rates.
Now that you understand the benefits of SaaS integration, you may be wondering how to integrate SaaS applications.
3 ways to integrate SaaS applications
One of the best practices for successfully executing SaaS integration is selecting the appropriate integration technique.
Native integration
This involves creating and maintaining integrations in-house by your own team. The pivotal benefit of this approach is that it eliminates the need to engage a third party. This method is ideal if you have a qualified workforce available, a limited number of integrations to build, and the integration functionality is limited in scope. However, it can be a time-consuming endeavor that will keep your IT team occupied, diverting attention from other tasks.
Pros:
Offers extensive customization options and flexibility
Allows workflow adjustment to specific business requirements
Provides complete ownership of the integration process
Cons:
Requires significant investment
Demands advanced technical skills
iPaaS (integration Platform as a Service)
Using an integration platform as a service, you can quickly integrate your SaaS applications using pre-built connectors or custom connectors created with the platform's SDK. This technique is a great time saver for your IT department and simplifies management by providing centralized monitoring.
The main drawback is the limited transparency of an integration process. Many service providers do not disclose the reasons for issues that arise, leaving the tech team to diagnose and address problems independently.
Pros:
Offers user-friendly onboarding and deployment
Provides numerous pre-built tools and templates for low-code/no-code best practices
Requires lower upfront costs
Cons:
Offers limited customization opportunities
Requires additional development for custom workflows and automation
May not offer high ROI (return on investment) for small integration projects
Involves regular subscription costs and potential vendor lock-in
RPA (Robotic Process Automation)
RPA involves using specialized user scripts, or bots, to mimic human tasks at the UI level. This is a perfect integration tool when applications don’t provide APIs for the specific information you want to collect and synchronize.
However, RPA bots are prone to fragility, as even minor changes in the app’s interface can cause them to malfunction. Additionally, setting up and maintaining bots can be challenging for non-tech-savvy personnel.
Pros:
Utilized advances technologies such as AI and optical character recognition
Eliminates of the human errors
Provides security and compliance
Cons:
Requires skillful staff to leverage effectively
Prone to fragility due to technology limitations
Regardless of the integration method chosen, it is crucial to avoid pitfalls and challenges that may arise during the process.
SaaS integration challenges examined
As an experienced B2B SaaS design agency, Dworkz has identified the principal obstacles development teams face when implementing SaaS application integrations.
Cost
Choosing an integration approach involves making tradeoffs. It’s essential to recognize that every option comes with a price tag. Evaluate the advantages and drawbacks of each method to understand what you’re ready to invest in and what you can forget. To ensure cost-effectiveness in your integrated environment, opt for the most advantageous pricing model offered by SaaS vendors.
Scalability and performance
As the workload on your IT infrastructure escalates, you may encounter latency issues due to a surge in requests and expanding data volume. Design stable and reliable integrations with scalability in mind to address such challenges. Additionally, robust monitoring tools should be implemented to track the system’s health continuously.
SaaS sprawl
As your IT environment grows, managing a holistic view becomes challenging as more applications are added. Balancing the interplay between new and existing components in the expanding ecosystem requires careful attention.
Support and maintenance
All integrations require regular review and updates, which become increasingly complex over time. This process demands significant efforts from technical personnel and consumes the company’s resources. Allocate resources for troubleshooting and fixing broken integrations to ensure seamless functionality of your digital infrastructure.
Lack of API documentation
This issue may become evident when handling third-party integrations, as some API providers may not offer complete or clear documentation concerning their product. As a result, developers must invest more time and effort in creating integrations, impacting the project’s duration timelines.
Implementing SaaS integrations at a proficient level is a no-nonsense task that can be entrusted only to competent and certified experts in the domain. How can you find a skilled and reliable IT vendor capable of tackling such projects?
Consider Dworkz your trusted partner
Dworkz is a reputable IT vendor with in-depth expertise in SaaS integrations. Our track record of completed projects has allowed us to accumulate sufficient theoretical knowledge and hands-on skills to perform different types and scopes of SaaS application integrations.
Contact us to receive top-notch SaaS integration services from our high-profile specialists and ensure the seamless performance of your integrated SaaS environment.
Final thoughts
The SaaS model has become indispensable in the contemporary digitally-driven business world. It allows organizations across multiple industries to enjoy 24/7 access to professional solutions while eliminating the necessity of maintaining costly on-premises infrastructure.
Integrating your enterprise apps into a unified ecosystem maximizes the value of your SaaS applications and enables smooth data exchange between them. This minimizes human errors, boosts efficiency and productivity, provides transparency throughout the company, and ensures customer satisfaction.
FAQ
How do SaaS integrations benefit enterprise business processes?
Implementing SaaS app integration reduces data transfer time between apps, eliminates manual data entry errors, enhances visibility of shop floor processes, and improves customer satisfaction. Besides, integrated solutions also facilitate upgrades and upscales.
What are the most common methods of SaaS data integration?
There are three primary options:
Manual integration by the IT team
Utilizing an Integration Platform as a Service (iPaaS)
Leveraging Robotic Process Automation (RPA) bots
The choice depends on the availability of a qualified workforce, data nature, customization needs, IT infrastructure, and other factors.
What are the typical challenges faced in SaaS application integration?
To fully enjoy integrated SaaS software, it’s essential to optimize performance with an eye to its potential scalability, manage SaaS sprawl, ensure continuous support and maintenance, obtain the relevant API documentation, and opt for the most cost-effective integration method.