Yasmin Ghahremani, CFO Magazine
December 1, 2009

SaaS/Cloud integration

With the widespread adoption of SaaS applications there is a new requirement for integration. With so many changes to the model the old way of doing integration does not cut it any more.

I see these issues:

1) Complex information - there is a lot of complex information including data, documents, images, web content, xml, etc.
2) Custom Integrations are "Sticky" - With the ease of use-unuse offered with SaaS apps you don't want to perform heavy lifting on customizing integrations to various apps which tie you down to specific vendors.
3) Security Issues - Firewalls only let apps "dial the mothership". They don't allow SaaS apps to connect to enterprise systems. The architecture of integrations needs to accommodate firewalls and security issues.

Mike Clarke
CEO
Qtility Software
www.qtility.com

Posted by Mike Clarke | Mar 6, 2010 1:08 PM ET

SaaS

What do you think about SaaS ERP systems (SAP Business ByDesign, Netsuite etc) vs. SaaS point solutions such as Taleo, Salesforce, SuccessFactors etc. Will the market move from SaaS point solutions to SaaS ERP, just like it evolved from HR or Financial systems to ERP in 1990s?

One of my client companies has a Salesforce(SFA), Taleo (Recruiting), Workday(HR), Rightnow (Support), NetSuite (Financials), Daptiv (Services Project Mgmt), Google Apps etc. Integration between systems is via spreadsheets. Reminds me of pre-ERP days.

Posted by Anil Gupta | Feb 14, 2010 3:54 PM ET