Governed Self Service: Applying Lean Principles to Cloud Integration

Today I moderated a webinar focused on Eliminating SaaS Sprawl with Cloud Integration. We focused on the usual challenges of silos and data fragmentation, but also focused on the opportunity to apply Lean Integration principles in a next generation integration Center of Excellence (CoE) or integration competency center (ICC).  The conversation centered on the need for speed and business agility, while also maintaining strong governance and control in IT.  What I call “Governed Self Service.”

David Lyle, co-author of the book on Lean Integration, pointed out that integration is a concept that mirrors the “just-in-time” (JIT) manufacturing principles of the automotive industry. With JIT manufacturing, the necessary components to assemble a car are sourced throughout the supply chain and brought onto the factory floor just before they are needed thus minimizing the amount of time a worker has to wait for the necessary part. Lean Integration transforms organizational processes and relies on leading-edge technology for automation and reuse to systematically reduce costs and accelerate delivery. His presentation summarized how the objectives of cloud integration are one and the same as Lean Integration:

• Eliminate waste
• Increase value for end-user customers
• Drive continuous improvement

Mark Murray from the Informatica Cloud team, then delivered a powerful cloud integration demonstration that focused on re-usable templates and the concept of having a central instance and sub-instances that can be deployed out to the divisions and lines of business, while maintaining centralized administration  Pretty powerful stuff!

I’ve embedded the webinar in it’s entirety below:

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Cloud Integration is Suddenly Cool

I started a blog post with an “is it me?” question once and got one comment:  ”Yes, it’s you.”

With that as an intro and a risk, let me ask: “Is it me or is cloud integration suddenly cool?”

Okay, maybe “cool” is the wrong word. But take a look at the trend:

So what’s so hot about cloud integration? In May 2010 I wrote about Phase Two Cloud Integration and The Dangers of Delaying Cloud Integration.

What’s changed?

Here’s how I answered the question in a recent interview:

“The first wave of cloud adoption was driven by software as a service (SaaS) applications. Pioneered by companies like salesforce.com, these applications typically were sold directly to the business, with minimal (if any) involvement from the traditional IT department. While there was a great deal of small to mid-sized company adoption early on, there was just as much departmental purchasing taking place in larger companies due to the benefits of ease of use, the promise of rapid deployments and the operational expense appeal of the subscription pricing model. On the IT side of the fence, I would characterize this as the “cloud skeptical” phase. On the business side, it was more like the Wild West. This is where cloud-based data integration first gained a foothold. Mid-sized companies and autonomous divisions and departments had limited technical resources but needed many of the same capabilities – data migration, synchronization, replication, and of course data quality.

Fast forward to today and IT organizations are increasingly becoming “cloud first.” Cloud deployments are becoming more complex, whether they are software, platform or infrastructure as a service; and the importance of broader cloud data management strategy is now recognized as the critical enabler of success. It’s a now truly a hybrid IT world. To avoid the perils of data fragmentation and “SaaS sprawl” business and IT organizations are starting to align around the need for trusted data.”

Do you agree? Disagree?  Anyone got a comment?

Related articles

• Cloud app integration: Incredibly important, but also problematic (cloudave.com)
• Are Enterprises Embracing Cloud? (cloudcomputing.sys-con.com)
• Salesforce Customers are Asking for Big Data Management #DF12 (cloudintegration.wordpress.com)

Salesforce Customers are Asking for Big Data Management #DF12

Two things stuck out for me at Dreamforce 2012:

1. What an amazing ecosystem Salesforce has built. The Cloud expo was packed with high-quality booths and there were over 3000 people at the partner keynote! Congratulations to the partner success team and kudos on the newly designed Appexchange.
2. How important cloud integration / enterprise connectivity has become to Salesforce customers, partners and prospects. These two slides from that same partner keynote say it all:

When it comes to the back-office, Big Data Management apps top the list of Salesforce customer requirements. Oh, and by the way, all new cloud applications must connect across the business.

Today two post-Dreamforce 2012 articles caught my attention that address the need for cloud integration head on. In his post – Plumbing the Salesforce Clouds is Your Business, Mark Smith from Ventana Research notes:

“The challenges your organization faces with data are getting larger, and the financial benefits of data in the cloud, such as reduced TCO and reduced implementation fees, are substantive. Too much time and too many resources are wasted in manual approaches where data is transitioned inconsistently and incorrectly. Automation helps organizations rationalize their overall information management efforts.”

Joshua Greenbaum at Enterprise Applications Consulting has this to say his his article, Salesforce.com, Enterprise Platforms, and the End of the End of Software:

“And the tools are there, or on the way. Hence the refrigerator pitch, though it was interestingly devoid of details on just how easy it will be to build an integration framework that could tie together a Pandora-like pure cloud environment or a more common hybrid cloud/on-premise environment. But heck, that’s really hard. It took SAP years to get NetWeaver out of slideware mode and into simple and easy to implement mode, despite all their efforts. So I don’t expect Saleforce.com to settle this issue in just one Dreamforce. It will take a while, no doubt.”

I’ll write about the Informatica Cloud integration and MDM session later this week on the Perspective blog. In the meantime, I’ve embedded the slides below so you can see for yourself how three enterprise organizations have taken advantage of data integration, data quality and master data management technology to drive overall Salesforce adoption and success. It’s Big Cloud Data Management in action!

Power the Connected Enterprise with Cloud Integration and Master Data Management (MDM) from Darren Cunningham

Related articles

• Salesforce.com reveals brief roadmap for AppExchange through 2013 (zdnet.com)
• Dreamforce 2012: Salesforce.com Launches Dropbox Enterprise Rival Chatterbox (techweekeurope.co.uk)
• Dreamforce 2012: Betting On Social Enterprise (cloudave.com)
• Salesforce.com’s New Social Strategy is Brilliant, Here’s Why (studentforce.wordpress.com)

Building Integration Into Your Cloud Apps and Platforms

Last week I hosted an Informatica Cloud webinar that featured speakers from salesforce.com and Xactly that focused on building next generation cloud applications and platforms. I’m trying really hard not to use the term “SMAC Stack,”  but it is truly all about ensuring your solutions are built for Social, Mobile, Analytics, Cloud…not to mention Big Data. I’ll post the recording later this week – there was a good discussion about the importance of multitenancy, which as the comments from this post indicate continues to be a hot topic of debate. Are you considering the building blocks of Social Enterprise apps? Are you building interoperability and integration into your strategy from the outset?

Building Next Generation Cloud Apps: Salesforce, Informatica, Xactly from Darren Cunningham

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Executive Megatrends Panel – Informatica World 2012

This industry panel was fairly typical in that it focused on social, mobile, cloud computing and Big Data – the megatrends of technology in 2012. What I thought was  unique about this discussion, is that it featured different, lively and somewhat contentious points of view. Instead of violent agreement, there was actually some great discussion and different perspectives on the technology industry were represented. The panel was moderated by R “Ray” Wang from Constellation Research and featured executives from EMC, Informatica, Google and Salesforce.com.

Video: Unlock your SAP Back Office with Force.com

This Salesforce.com demonstration  is a great example of the power of cloud integration.

 

Related articles

• Salesforce.com offers to ‘unlock’ SAP’s core (infoworld.com)
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#GartnerAADI Tweet Stream in Review

This past week I attended Gartner’s Application Architecture, Development and Integration (AADI) summit in Vegas. The tagline for the conference was:  ”Cloud, Web, Mobile and Social: Rocking Your Enterprise Application Strategy.” To illustrate how “All In” Gartner when it comes to cloud computing adoption, the conference featured two tracks on the topic:

• The Business of the Cloud
• Cloud Infrastructure

There was also a track with significant cloud content called: Architecture for Postmodern IT: SOA, WOA, EDA, and Cloud.

I plan to post some observations and notes on the Perspectives blog next week, but just looking at the #gartnerAADI stream of tweets from the conference tells the story. Here are few of my favorites:

That’s to Gartner for a fantastic event! Lots of great sessions, customer and analyst discussions. With SAP’s announcement of their acquisition of SuccessFactors, 2012 is definitely shaping up to be the biggest year yet for cloud computing adoption in the enterprise and cloud integration will continue to be a hot topic.

Cloud Integration Do’s and Don’ts

I moderated a webinar today with a Director of IT who is truly cloud first.  The topic was cloud data integration and the impact the right strategy can have on your Salesforce.com and overall SaaS application implementation success. The discussion also featured implementation guidance from one the top systems integrator partners of both Informatica Cloud and Salesforce – Silverline. Gireesh Sonnad, a partner at the firm, outlined what he sees as the Top Cloud Integration Do’s and Don’ts.

Cloud Integration Do’s:

1. Build well rounded, cross-functionalimplementation core team
2. Pay special attention to understanding your complete process and data workflow
3. Make sure to compare your legacy application accessibility to the integration platform capabilities
4. Take advantage of  SaaS application (in this case Salesforce CRM) and Informatica Cloud native functionality (External IDs, Upserts, Error Logging, etc.)
5. Document what you build (You will need to refer to it often)

Cloud Integration Don’ts:

1. DON’T underestimate value of integration to overall SaaS adoption (Workflows are cross platform in real life, your systems should be also!)
2. DON’T ignore the value of detailed use cases and end-to-end testing with the entire team
3. DON’T try this without a full sandbox!
4. DON’T Worry, it WILL all work out in the end

Here’s the recording. Do you agree/disagree with this list? What else would you add?

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SAP, meet Force.com #socialenterprise

Image via CrunchBase

Last week salesforce.com launched a new campaign targeted at SAP customers: “Unlock your back office and become a social enterprise.” The message is clear – build a layer of agility around your legacy ERP system and immediately increase the business value of your existing investment.

SAP, meet Force.com…

How is this possible, you ask?

“By unlocking and extending the data trapped in your SAP ERP deployment with mobile and social apps built on Force.com.”

The campaign clearly highlights the benefits of establishing the right cloud integration strategy early. It also highlights specific cloud application integration and data management partners, which is nice to see.

Here’s a presentation outlining some of the considerations, best practices as well as an Informatica Cloud demonstration of SAP and Salesforce integration. I’ll also be hosting a webinar this week that will focus on Oracle EBS integration with salesforce.com. Clearly cloud integration is in the spotlight.

Salesforce and SAP Integration with Informatica Cloud

View more presentations from Darren Cunningham

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Integrating Salesforce CRM and SAP

Image via Wikipedia

Here’s a video of Informatica Cloud integrating Salesforce.com data and SAP.