CRM - January 2009 - (Page BPS9)

Sponsored Content January 2009 9 SaaS INTEGRATION SOLUTIONS Is IT keeping up with your SaaS Integration needs? CUSTOMER TESTIMONIALS “With Informatica On Demand I can use a much friendlier user interface and can schedule jobs and manage more of the complex transformations without needing to use a separate database.” “This tool couldn't be easier to use! If you're looking for an easy way to integrate your SaaS data this is the tool for you.” “After looking at and testing a number of different products the Informatica On Demand Data Synchronization Service was by far the easiest product to implement.” SAAS APPLICATIONS DRIVEN BY BUSINESS USERS SaaS applications have gained traction for a variety of reasons: faster deployment, lower risk, improved operational efficiencies, simpler upgrades, and all while dealing with IT resource constraints. According to McKinsey, the cost to a customer to develop, deploy and integrate a SaaS-based application costs only 20-30 cents on the dollar – a 50%-70% savings over on-premise platforms. It's no wonder that 9 out of 10 companies surveyed for a recent Gartner report expect to increase their use of SaaS applications in 2009 and 37% plan to replace on-premise software with SaaS applications to reduce their total cost of ownership. While many SaaS application deployments are driven by business users, the challenge many organizations quickly come to realize is that for most any application to be successful it needs to be integrated with other systems and applications within the business. There are some important differentiators that make SaaS integrations more challenging than traditional enterprise application integrations. 1. Since SaaS applications exist outside the corporate firewall, a new set of protocols and interfaces are required to handle data integrations 2. IT resource constraints means that IT can not be responsive to ever growing business user requirements, especially when SaaS applications are empowering business users to be self sufficient, and raising their expectations to do more with less 3. Ease of SaaS application customization by business users makes integration change management a nightmare for IT to deal with 4. Traditional IT integration tools might be overkill, and cost prohibitive for small to mid-size companies or departmental deployments, which make up the majority of SaaS projects Informatica has taken a portfolio approach to solving the SaaS integration problem - First, it introduced a best-in-class set of SaaS connectors to support IT users with powerful and scalable capabilities for enterprise SaaS implementations. More importantly, the company has developed a set of On Demand Integration services, specifically designed for SaaS Administrators that empower them to manage their own data integration needs while minimizing their reliance on IT. These services are web-based and easy to use, can be deployed in minutes, and are licensed at a compelling price point. DATA INTEGRATION ON DEMAND FOR SAAS ADMINISTRATORS Informatica offers a family of On Demand services specifically designed to enable SaaS business application administrators to perform the various import, export and synchronization tasks required to integrate their SaaS applications with on-premise or other cloud-based applications and databases. For example, the Informatica On Demand Data Synchronization Service provides robust bi-directional synchronization between salesforce.com, or the Force.com platform, and your back office systems and SQL databases through a simple, yet powerful, “set and forget,” web-based environment. The service integrates onpremise systems, salesforce.com, and other SaaS applications, enabling account synchronization, automated order, accounting and shipping processes between SaaS, CRM and ERP systems. Powerful data mapping and data transformations using an Excel-like function palette enable administrators to manipulate and manage data without requiring multiple or manual steps. Automated task scheduling and task sequencing assure timely execution and manipulation of complex multi-step jobs. INFORMATICA FAMILY OF DATA INTEGRATION SOLUTIONS The Informatica family of data integration solutions enables your company to integrate your SaaS data with the rest of your business. Featuring both on-demand services—targeted at SaaS administrators and on-premise solutions—targeted at IT organizations, Informatica has a solution to meet your needs. To learn more visit www.InformaticaOnDemand.com, or call (888) 345-4639. Don Nanneman, Senior Director of Marketing, Informatica On Demand http://www.InformaticaOnDemand.com http://www.salesforce.com http://www.Force.com http://www.salesforce.com http://www.InformaticaOnDemand.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of CRM - January 2009

CRM - January 2009 Contents Front Office Feedback Reality Check Customer Centricity The Tipping Point The Shots Heard ’Round the World 30,000-Foot Views Of the Cloud Stuffing the Ballot Box— With Complaints The Marketing Line for ’09 CRM on Twitter Technology Helps Insurance Weather the Storm Required Reading The Google-ization of CRM The Feedback Funnel Email: What’s Inside? Shake Your Moneymakers Lead Sweet Lead Incentives at the Speed of Lightpath Sales Contentment for Content Management A Worthwhile Excursion Into Call Recording Secret of My Success Re:Tooling Connect Pint of View

CRM - January 2009

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