How iPaaS Overcomes the Challenges of Cloud Integration

Daniel ChilcottManaging Director/Co-Founder, Flowgear

• About iPaaS• About Flowgear• 4 Ways to Integrate• 8 Challenges of Integration• Customer Stories• Questions

Agenda

• “Integration Platform as a Service” (part of the PaaS family)• Term coined by technology research firm Gartner• Refers to a cloud-based platform that provides

integration middleware capability

About iPaaS

• South African company founded 2007

• Vision is to make integration accessible

• Recognized in Gartner Magic Quadrant for Integration Platform as a Service, Jan 2014. One of 17 vendors, globally.

• Flowgear service is delivered from US, Europe and Africa

About Flowgear

• Hand Coding• Integration Middleware• Cloud-based Integration Platform (iPaaS)• Integration Brokerage

Four Ways to Integrate

Pro’s• Quick to build• Cost effective

Con’s• No control• Hard to maintain

Use For…• Simple integrations• Low-impact requirement• Ground-to-ground

1 of 4: Hand Coding

Pro’s• Very structured• Highly scalable

Con’s• Costly• Requires infrastructure

investment

Use For…• High-volume requirements• Low-latency requirements• Ground-to-ground• Extensive integration

strategy

2 of 4: Integration Middleware aka ESB

Pro’s• Fast time to value• Cloud friendly• Subscription-based

Con’s• Not as efficient for ground

to ground integration

Use For…• Cloud to ground and Cloud

to Cloud requirements• Extensive integration

strategy

3 of 4: Cloud-based Integration Platformaka iPaaS

Pro’s• Outsourced

implementation• Mostly pre-built

Con’s• Often charged as % of

revenue

• Limited endpoints/solutions• Often file-basedUse For…• Total outsource• Specific solutions

4 of 4: Integration Brokerage aka VAN/EDI Switch

Four Ways to Integrate

Time to value

Setup Cost

Ongoing Cost

Flexibility

Control

Degree of structure

0

5

Hand Coding (outsourced) Integration Middleware Cloud-based Integration Platform Integration Brokerage

• Virtually all enterprises use a combination of Cloud and ground (on-premise software)• IT department used to be able to forklift data between

systems• API’s force proper interaction• The Internet isn’t always on!

Challenges of Cloud to Ground Integration

Cost

Challenge #1

• Before iPaaS, enterprise needed to deploy costly ESB’s• As a Cloud service, iPaaS is available on a subscription

(often monthly) that aligns with the features required• No additional infrastructure is required

Platform Management

Challenge #2

• Managing availability and updates to integration middleware requires domain expertise• In iPaaS, a highly-available environment is provided with

no maintenance required by Enterprise• Components of the Flowgear Platform are updated

monthly

Knowing Where To Start

Challenge #3

• Applications expect data to be supplied in a specific way• Flowgear brings samples

right into the design area to accelerate productivity

Connecting Disparate Data Sources

Challenge #4

• Flowgear DropPoints are software agents installed on application or database servers• Creates a secured, outbound, fault tolerant connection• Enables Flowgear to access data sources in different

networks without any extra work – no VPN’s, no file transfers

Bridging Old And New

Challenge #5

• On-premise systems typically use older techniques for communication• Cloud services have API’s• Flowgear supports old and new techniques and allows

communication to flow seamlessly

Software Gets Upgraded

Challenge #6

• During workflow design, Flowgear locks the specific product version being integrated• Users are able to upgrade the version used in the

workflow when they’re ready

Things Go Wrong

Challenge #7

• When an integration fails, enterprise needs the ability to get to root cause quickly• Flowgear logs every single action taken so developers

can step through problem integrations to determine the cause

Keeping Control When Requirements Change

Challenge #8

• Enterprise needs to be nimble to stay ahead• Often, that implies changes to integration processes• An iPaaS platform provides one place to manage all

integrations• Flowgear supports agility in integration by allowing

iterative changes to be made easily

• Flowgear integrates tablet app for contractors to Sage Evolution

• Pilot rollout handled over 100’s of orders in June• Orders available instantly• Eliminate capture error• Responsive customer service

Customer Story: Maxidor

“It’s one of the best partnerships I’ve had in a while – it’s been a streamlined process from the beginning…we want to redo all of our reporting using Flowgear and get everything into the cloud”

Yasheen Partab, IT Manager

Maxidor manufactures, distributes, sells and installs custom safety and security solutions.

• Flowgear integrates student applications from a third party product into Sage Evolution

• Handles payment allocations and invoicing for all applications

• Handles integration with logistics vendor for track and trace

• Integrated 1000’s of orders for the 2014 academic year

Customer Story: Impak Onderwysdiens

“We have more efficiencies in system – more visibility, better customer relations – giving more detail about what we charged, value delivered.”

Germari Pieterse, Financial Director

Impak provides parents with the necessary products and services to educate their children at home or at an Impak Academic Centre

Questions?

Thank you