SaaS Integration: Kenexa

Kenexa is a provider of recruitment and retention services such as Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO), new employee onboarding and talent management and assessment through. Kenexa also offers HCM software delivered on-demand as Software as a Service (SaaS). Its core SaaS offering, Kenexa 2x BrassRing, features a wide range of capabilities for recruiting and retaining talent, including social messaging, requisition management, candidate sourcing (via job postings, job boards and external agencies), search, scheduling, communications, and remote recruiting.

Unlike traditional HCM software, Kenexa’s SaaS offering provides customers with a flexible and cost-effective solution for managing recruitment and retention. Nonetheless, the efficiency of business processes suffers when Kenexa isn’t connected to other systems in the enterprise. Indeed, an often overlooked but mission-critical issue when deploying cloud services is applications integration, both SaaS to SaaS and SaaS to on-premise.

When Kenexa isn’t properly integrated, information about job candidates can quickly build up in a “cloud silo.” Back-end databases and legacy applications, for instance, need to access this data. To improve the hiring process and HR procedures, Kenexa also needs to be integrated with other SaaS applications such as SuccessFactors, social networking sites such as Jobvite and LinkedIn, and online job sites and job boards.

For today’s enterprises, cloud integration has in fact become the number one issue when it comes to deploying Kenexa and other SaaS applications. While SaaS has been well established as an alternative to traditional enterprise software and new SaaS offerings continue to be rolled out regularly, cloud integration solutions have not developed at the same pace. The need for a simple, flexible and scalable cloud integration solution has become a high priority.

Custom Integration Code

With few cloud integration solutions readily available, early SaaS adopters relied on in-house developers to write custom integration code. Some companies still prefer to do integrations this way since connectors can be tailored to fit specific business needs, for example Cornerstone OnDemand integration or IntraLinks integration.

Despite this advantage, writing custom code to integrate Kenexa presents several challenges that undermine the technical flexibility and financial benefits of deploying SaaS applications.

• Time and Cost: In terms of time investments, costs are high for developing custom integrations. Since developers have to write significant portions of code from scratch, deployment times get delayed and other IT projects receive less attention. For more complex integration projects, it is sometimes necessary to consult external system integrators, which can drive up financial costs.
• Maintenance Burdens: Aside from building the integration code, developers also have to worry about maintaining and upgrading custom integrations on a regular basis to ensure that they operate smoothly. When Kenexa is updated, for instance, custom connectors may need to be updated as well to maintain compatibility. If an integration point falters, the problem first has to be accurately diagnosed before developing, testing and deploying a solution. This can be a lengthy process that impedes mission-critical business activities.
• Elasticity: At first glance, a custom integration strategy makes sense for some organizations, particularly in situations where only 2 or 3 systems need to be connected. For larger organizations with more complex infrastructures or small companies anticipating rapid growth, writing custom code is unsustainable as a long-term solution. As new SaaS applications are deployed, there needs to be a way to quickly and seamlessly connect them to existing systems.

iON: Integration for the Cloud Era

To eliminate the challenges associated with writing custom integration code, Mule iON has emerged as an integration solution for both cloud users and developers. As a true Integration Platform as a Service (iPaaS), Mule iON features a robust set of capabilities for building SaaS integrations in a simple and seamless way.

Among its features, Mule iON includes:

• Cloud Connectors and Packaged Integration Applications: Mule iON comes with a library of cloud connectors to popular SaaS integrations, allowing users to quickly integrate their SaaS applications. Because new SaaS offerings are continually entering the market and use cases vary from company to company, developers can also use Mule iON platform to build custom integrations and share them as packaged integrations called iApps (integration applications). With Mule iON, integrations are built through configuration, not custom coding, resulting in faster “go-live” times.
• Secure Cloud to Premise Integration: Although SaaS to SaaS integration is the main concern for companies with increasingly cloud-centric architectures, integrations between SaaS and on-premise legacy systems cannot be overlooked either. That’s why Mule iON includes a Secure Data Gateway that allows users to access data residing behind the firewall without compromising security.
• Management Portal: In order to maintain performance and troubleshoot errors and bugs, users need visibility into integration flows. Mule iON’s management portal enables deep visibility into uptime and performance. Because it is browser based and easily accessible, there is no need to install or configure additional software.
• Cloud Features: As an iPaaS, Mule iON includes the core features that users have come to expect from cloud services: multi-tenancy for data isolation and security, self-service provisioning, elasticity and scalability, and more.