SaaS Integration: DemandTec

Over the past decade, Software as a Service (SaaS) has become a popular alternative to traditional enterprise software. Like a growing number of vendors, DemandTec employs the SaaS model to deliver a wide range of software services to retailers and consumer goods manufacturers for conducting transactions and collaborating on merchandising and marketing programs.

DemandTec’s offerings include: allowance billing; price management and optimization; markdowns; promotion planning, execution, optimization and management; advanced deal management; strategic and customer trade planning; and assortment optimization. DemandTec also provides a platform for social messaging and communication.

Although integration between some functions is built into DemandTec’s software suite (such as analytics and social messaging capabilities), it quickly loses business value when it isn’t integrated with other SaaS applications and legacy enterprise systems. In fact, the concurrent deployment of multiple SaaS applications contributes to the proliferation of cloud silos, scattering enterprise data across different SaaS applications. This leads to inaccuracies and redundancies in information.

In order to take full of advantage of DemandTec’s offerings, integration is required. Users, for instance, might utilize NetSuite integration to connect DemandTec with ERP/financial services or Concur integration to seamlessly incorporate travel and expense management. In the remainder of this article, we’ll look at several approaches to integrating DemandTec.

Custom Integration Code for DemandTec

One approach to integrating DemandTec and other SaaS applications is to write custom integration code. This approach was often used when SaaS offerings were first made available since few packaged integration solutions existed.

Although there is a growing awareness of the integration challenges associated with deploying SaaS, and a number of packaged solutions are starting to emerge, many companies continue to rely on their in-house development teams to write integration code from scratch. The advantage of such an approach is that integrations can be customized for specific needs and use cases.

The downsides of writing custom integration code, however, outweigh this advantage:

• Time and Cost: An in-house integration project requires substantial investments of time and resources as developers must manually write code to build connectors. With an integration project occupying the attention of IT staff, other enterprise needs lose priority. Moreover, when system integrators are consulted, project budgets can skyrocket.
• Maintenance and Upgrades: Once an integration project is completed, ongoing maintenance and upgrades are necessary to make sure that connections run properly, which further diverts the attention of IT staff from other projects. When DemandTec upgrades its software (which it does every 6 months), custom-built connectors will likely need to be upgraded as well.
• Scalability: When only 2 or 3 systems need to be integrated, writing custom integration code is a relatively manageable process. But when new SaaS applications are rapidly deployed in large numbers, building custom connectors from scratch quickly becomes a challenging and unsustainable integration solution--one that doesn’t scale well to meet changing business needs.

iON: Integration for the Cloud Era

Mule iON is an Integration Platform as a Service (iPaaS) for building integration applications in a simple and flexible way without the need for writing custom code. With Mule iON, users can quickly integrate DemandTec with other applications, both in the cloud and on the ground.

Among its robust set of features are the following:

• Cloud Connectors and Packaged Integration Applications: SaaS users can leverage a library of out-of-the-box connectors to popular SaaS offerings. At the same time, developers can build custom integrations using the Mule iON platform and development toolkit and then share them as packaged integration solutions called iApps. In both cases, there is no need for writing custom integration code since Mule iON takes a configuration approach to integration.
• Management Portal: Providing deep visibility into integration applications, Mule iON’s management portal enables users to monitor uptime and performance and identify bugs and errors. As a browser-based tool, users can access the management portal without the need for additional software.
• Secure Data Gateway: Besides connecting SaaS to SaaS, Mule iON also makes it easy to connect SaaS with on-premise legacy applications through a Secure Data Gateway. With the Secure Data Gateway, users can access data located behind the firewall in a secure fashion.
• Cloud Features: Based in the cloud, Mule iON includes all the features cloud adopters would expect form a cloud service: data isolation and security in a multi-tenant environment, elasticity for maximum scalability, and flexible pricing and self-service provisioning. With Mule iON, integrations can be performed quickly and efficiently without the high costs of traditional integration solutions.