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SaaS Integration

  • Glossary

"SaaS integration"

This glossary explains various keywords that will help you understand the mindset necessary for data utilization and successful DX.
This time, we will explain the concept of "SaaS integration," which may be the key to success in the introduction and utilization of cloud computing, which is currently progressing as we enter the cloud era, and through this we will consider what we should keep in mind when utilizing IT in the future.

What is SaaS integration?

SaaS integration refers to the integration of the functions and data of SaaS (Software as a Service), a cloud service that allows applications to be used via the Internet, with external cloud services and IT systems.
Companies are increasingly adopting and utilizing SaaS to promote the use of cloud services, but when using SaaS, problems can arise, such as how to integrate with external parties and how to deal with the various hassles that come with using the service, such as manually inputting and outputting data. SaaS integration can be a way to resolve these issues and successfully promote the use of SaaS.

Introducing SaaS and promoting cloud utilization

Companies are now widely moving forward with initiatives to utilize the cloud. There are various ways of thinking about how to proceed with initiatives to introduce the cloud, but I think that the most realistic approach is to start using the cloud by introducing and using SaaS.

SaaS stands for "Software as a Service," and refers to a service that allows applications provided on the cloud to be used via a web browser, etc. When you think about the circumstances under which companies often adopt SaaS, the starting point is often something like "I want to do something using the app," or "I want to implement it to improve my business operations," such as wanting to try out kintone in-house, or hearing about an easy-to-use accounting cloud service from another company and trying it out.

Compared to cloud utilization, such as renting cloud-based hardware resources (IaaS) to run your company's IT systems, or introducing a cloud-based data infrastructure, SaaS adoption is easier to understand, and the motivations for adoption and benefits are often easier to understand.

If you've considered something as ambitious as a company-wide cloud migration plan but haven't been able to make much progress with cloud utilization, it might be a good idea to start by introducing SaaS. This will allow you to introduce services that your IT users want to use, and it will be less likely to require complex programming or other prerequisites. This is likely to be an easier process to implement.

As SaaS is introduced and used, problems arise

Once SaaS is introduced and used within the company, the introduction of cloud computing can be considered a success. As SaaS is introduced and established in the workplace, the scope and depth of its use will begin to expand, with new applications being added.

This is not a bad thing, as it means that people will naturally start using the cloud more and more without having to be told to do so every time, but as its use becomes more widespread, problems will also begin to arise.

There may be a proliferation of systems that utilize SaaS

For example, let's say you've introduced kintone and it's been successfully put to use within your company. As it becomes more widely used, you might find that systems developed with kintone are being created all over the company because of how convenient it is.

This is a wonderful situation, as in-house development of IT systems is now being driven by the field, but if care is not taken, systems developed in various parts of the company could become promiscuous and out of control, making it difficult to adequately manage the data and systems used in business operations.

SaaS can become separated into separate "silos"

Let's say the information systems department introduces kintone and begins to use it extensively within the company. The momentum for cloud adoption spreads to other departments, with the sales department starting to implement Salesforce and the accounting department implementing a SaaS accounting system. If SaaS adoption progresses in this way and cloud services are being fully utilized in each department, then it can be said that cloud adoption is progressing smoothly.

However, kintone, which is used company-wide by the IT department, and Salesforce, which was introduced by the sales department, are different cloud services, and it can be considered that different SaaS are being introduced within the company and are disconnected from each other. This situation is sometimes called "siloization," and it tends to occur not only with cloud adoption, but can also lead to negative results.

​⇒Siloization｜Glossary Vol.11

Silos can hinder optimal company-wide initiatives. While the implementation itself can go smoothly if SaaS is introduced based on the needs of each site, the SaaS introduced at each site can become fragmented within the company, causing silo issues.

Even though we introduced the cloud, we were busy with "manual IT work"

Related to the problem of silos is the need to manually input and output data, which can lead to time-consuming operations and maintenance of cloud services. For example, it can be necessary to manually re-enter related data between Kintone, which is used company-wide, and Salesforce, which is used by the sales department, resulting in frequent manual work.

A similar problem occurs when you want to create a monthly summary report, but the data needed to create the report is spread across multiple cloud services, so you have to manually collect the data each time you create the report.

Let's say a new employee joins the sales department. It's common for this person to be registered in Salesforce, added to the accounting cloud employee list, given an account in Kintone, and added to the groupware and Slack.

This kind of "effort problem" is a common problem that occurs in the use of cloud services, but it is often not recognized as a problem because people tend to think that "this is just what you get when using the cloud."

Moreover, as the use of various SaaS services increases and companies try to make better use of the data accumulated within their companies, these problems can become more serious.

However, it is also difficult to "align IT"

When such problems arise, companies often try to standardize their IT across the entire company. They may decide on a standard cloud and forbid the use of anything else, or they may restrict usage and require prior application. Or, they may be persuaded by external consultants that a unified IT system is necessary, and end up using large-scale packaged software or large-scale cloud services that include all business functions.

At first glance, it seems easy to understand that there will be no problems if we eliminate the differences and unify the systems, but the question is whether "unifying" is realistic. Such top-down approaches often do not go well, and can result in IT systems that are difficult to use and do not see much use.

It is true that it is easier to promote utilization when business sites introduce SaaS that they themselves want to use and encourage its use by identifying the needs of the business sites themselves.

Furthermore, each department may have different IT needs. For example, if a department with high IT skills needs a full-fledged service that they want to use thoroughly, and another department prioritizes ease of use, it will be difficult to meet both needs with a single cloud service.

"SaaS integration" can solve these problems with SaaS utilization

It may seem like a tough task to introduce and utilize the cloud, and yet it is also difficult to consider these issues. Fortunately, however, there is already a way to effectively solve these problems. This is done by "making it possible to integrate SaaS" to effectively mitigate the issues.

The problems mentioned above arise when a company's IT becomes fragmented for some reason in relation to the introduction and use of SaaS. However, there are significant benefits to using different IT for each service, and fragmentation itself is not necessarily a bad thing. The problem is simply that "data and functions are fragmented" between different SaaS services.

If this "division" can be eliminated through "collaboration," then we should be able to resolve only the problems while retaining the good things about being separate.

Problem: Different SaaS deployments and disjointed relationships

If you have implemented kintone and Salesforce, you can eliminate the inconvenience by data integration between them. For example, you can automatically link Salesforce customer data to kintone, or automatically link customer data entered in kintone to Salesforce.

Problem: It's a pain to gather data from multiple SaaS services every time you create a report.

If there was a system that automatically linked with each cloud service and collected the necessary data, such inconveniences could be eliminated. Furthermore, if there was an automatic linking system, it would even be possible to automate the report generation process.

Problem: Every time someone joins the company, there's a lot of account creation and registration on the member list.

By connecting to each cloud service and automatically executing changes related to account management in bulk, you can eliminate the hassle. Also, introducing SSO (single sign-on) not only simplifies management, but also reduces the hassle of logging in for users.

Problem: Manually transferring data to and from cloud services

As the use of cloud services increases, it is common to encounter time-consuming tasks such as exporting data as a CSV file, manually editing the data, and then importing it into another cloud service to link the data. This type of hassle can be eliminated by automatically linking cloud services together.

Plus: Automation of tasks on SaaS

By connecting to SaaS from an external source, you can automate processes that change data on the SaaS or call SaaS functions, which means you can also improve efficiency through business automation.

Furthermore: Realizing cross-SaaS processing

By extracting data from each cloud service and storing it centrally in a DWH or data lake, you can easily perform data analysis across data sources and analytical tasks that require advanced processing engines.

In the same way, it is also possible to achieve integrated processing across the functions of multiple SaaS. The automation of user account processing associated with joining a company, which was already mentioned as an example, is also an example of achieving cross-service functionality.

"Connecting" technology that enables SaaS integration

You may be wondering how to achieve SaaS integration, which will solve the problem and make a big step forward in cloud utilization, but how to achieve this integration process? Wouldn't it be necessary to secure highly skilled IT engineers and develop the integration process, which requires full-scale programming?

It's true that this is often the "general" belief, but there is a way to efficiently develop this kind of "SaaS integration" using only a GUI."EAI"or" ETL"," iPaaS" called "DataSpider" and "HULFT SquareThese are technologies that connect things. By utilizing this, SaaS integration can be achieved smoothly and efficiently.

Can be used with GUI only

Unlike regular programming, there is no need to write code. By placing and configuring icons on the GUI, you can achieve integration with a wide variety of systems, data, and cloud services.

Being able to develop using a GUI is also an advantage

No-code development using only a GUI may seem like a simple compromise compared to full-scale programming. However, being able to develop using only a GUI allows on-site personnel to proactively work on cloud integration themselves.

The people who understand the business best are the people on the front lines. It can be said that having these "people who know best" themselves be able to steadily create what needs to be realized, such as introducing and utilizing the cloud, utilizing data, and automating business processes, is superior to a situation where development cannot be carried out without explaining things to engineers and asking them for help every time something comes up.

The "SaaS implementation effect" can be greatly achieved

When SaaS is introduced, its use is progressing independently at each workplace within the company, and various uses and implementations are progressing, it can be said that the cloud adoption is going well. However, in such a situation, each system and each SaaS tends to become fragmented and disconnected, and this needed to be resolved.

"SaaS integration" solves these problems, but if SaaS utilization and SaaS integration can be implemented in-house and led by the field, the overall potential of cloud utilization can be greatly maximized.

With "connecting" technology, it is possible to develop integration processes using only a GUI, so even SaaS integration combined with the use of SaaS itself can be created on-site, further accelerating the use of cloud in the field.

For example, what would happen if kintone was used enthusiastically in the workplace, and then a means were provided for users to create "automated processes for kintone" and "processes linked to the world outside of kintone" themselves using only a GUI? kintone would be used more than ever before, and would begin to be used in ways that were previously unthinkable.

Full-scale processing can be implemented

There are many products that claim to allow development using only a GUI, but some people may have a negative impression of such products as being too simple.

It is true that things like "it's easy to make, but it can only do simple things," "when I tried to execute a full-scale process it couldn't process and crashed," or "it didn't have the high reliability or stable operating capacity to support business operations, which caused problems" tend to occur.

"DataSpider" and "HULFT Square" are easy to use, but also allow you to create processes at the same level as full-scale programming. They have the same high processing power as full-scale programming, as they are internally converted to Java and executed, and have a long history of supporting corporate IT. They combine the benefits of "GUI only" with full-scale capabilities.

No need to operate in-house as it is iPaaS

DataSpider can be operated securely on a system under your own management. With HULFT Square, a cloud service (iPaaS), this "connecting" technology itself can be used as a cloud service without the need for in-house operation, eliminating the hassle of in-house implementation and system operation.

Related keywords (for further understanding)

  • SaaS
    • -SaaS is an abbreviation for "Software as a Service," and is a service that provides an environment via the Internet where software can be used on a web browser, etc., without the need to install and operate hardware and software in-house as in the past.
  • EAI
    • -It is a concept of "connecting" systems by data integration, and is a means of freely connecting various data and systems. It is a concept that has been used since long before the cloud era as a way to effectively utilize IT.
  • ETL
    • -In the recent trend of actively working on data utilization, the majority of the work is not the data analysis itself, but rather the collection and preprocessing of data scattered around, from on-premise to cloud. This is a means to carry out such processing efficiently.
  • iPaaS
    • -A cloud service that "connects" various clouds with external systems and data simply by operating on a GUI is called iPaaS.

Are you interested in "iPaaS" and "connecting" technologies?

Try out our products that allow you to freely connect various data and systems, from on-premise IT systems to cloud services, and make successful use of IT.

The ultimate "connecting" tool: data integration software "DataSpider" and data integration platform "HULFT Square"

"DataSpider," data integration tool developed and sold by our company, is a "connecting" tool with a long history of success. "HULFT Square," a data integration platform, is a "connecting" cloud service developed using DataSpider technology.

Another feature is that development can be done using only the GUI (no code) without writing code like in regular programming, so business staff who have a good understanding of their company's business can take the initiative to use it.

Try outDataSpider/ HULFT Square 's "connecting" technology:

There are many simple collaboration tools on the market, but this tool can be used with just a GUI, is easy enough for even non-programmers to use, and has "high development productivity" and "full-fledged performance that can serve as the foundation for business (professional use)."

It can smoothly solve the problem of "connecting disparate systems and data" that is hindering successful IT utilization. We offer a free trial version and online seminars where you can try it out for free, so we hope you will give it a try.


Why not try a PoC to see if "HULFT Square" can transform your business?

Why not try verifying how "connecting" can be utilized in your business, the feasibility of solving problems using data integration, and the benefits that can be obtained?

  • I want to automate data integration with SaaS, but I want to confirm the feasibility of doing so.
  • We want to move forward with data utilization, but we have issues with system integration
  • I want to consider data integration platform to achieve DX.

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