Data Adapting to Industry Shifts
Data as a means of competitive advantage has become a defining theme of today's increasingly information- driven world. The ability to collect and interact with disparate data sources is crucial. No one feels this more keenly in the information technology (IT) industry more than Adeptia, Inc., one of the leading providers of business-to-business data connectivity software.
With 15 years of integration software experience, Adeptia has adapted to many changes in the IT industry. The most recent change was predicted by a recent Gartner report: "by 2017, at least 65% of new integration flows will be developed outside the control of central IT."
If the Gartner report is proven correct, then the majority of data connections will be created by and flow through non-technical business users-not developers. This presents a large market opportunity for an SaaS application that is designed with the average end-user in mind.
Enter an Exciting SaaS Application: Adeptia Connect
Adeptia Connect is a powerful cloud-based application focused on business users, allowing them to self-manage connections from multiple sources (ERP, CRM, social media, etc.) without relying on IT personnel to create them. This frees up the organization's IT team to focus on programs that have long-term tactical impact.
"As business users strive to become more self-sufficient, Adeptia Connect solves two perennial issues for companies: users are enabled to quickly and easily perform data connections and IT retains the ability to secure, control, and monitor activity in the cloud"
– Lou Ennuso, CEO at Adeptia.
But Adeptia Connect is only as good as the connections it can create. And without out-of-the box support for popular cloud-based applications, Adeptia Connect would not be able to fully capitalize on its powerful, revolutionary new platform. In order to provide built-in support for the various data sources their customers require, Adeptia had two choices: develop an individual driver for each data source or source the drivers through 3rd parties.
Highlights:
- In order to reach a wide customer base for their cloud application, Adeptia required out-of-the-box integration to dozens of disparate data sources (ERP, CRM, social media, etc.).
- Adeptia chose to save crucial development time and money by entering into an OEM license and distribution Agreement with CData, giving them unlimited access to 40+ data drivers.
- As a direct benefit of the OEM agreement, Adeptia's application now includes pre-built support for Salesforce, NetSuite, Dynamics CRM, QuickBooks, SharePoint, Facebook, Twitter, LDAP, Google Apps, and more!
Build or Buy
With these two options in mind, Adeptia first evaluated how long it would take them to develop support for a few popular data sources such as Salesforce, QuickBooks, and Facebook.
But Adeptia did not have months to wait for development. Their staff's time and resources would be better spent developing and improving other areas of Adeptia Connect to make it a success. Every day they waited to release Adeptia Connect lessened the competitive advantage of their application. So Adeptia turned their search to third-party providers of drivers under the assumption that they would need to purchase one or two drivers from multiple sources until they had the portfolio they wanted.
Soon after beginning their search, Adeptia found CData and narrowed their focus to CData's line of JDBC Drivers. After an easy evaluation process, Adeptia knew that CData was the answer.
After deciding to pursue a relationship with CData, Adeptia was pleasantly surprised to learn about the special CData OEM Agreement that allows them to distribute all of the CData JDBC Drivers within Adeptia Connect.
Through OEM licensing of CData Driver technologies, Adeptia can now boast that their application includes pre-built adapters for Salesforce, NetSuite, MS Dynamics CRM, QuickBooks, SharePoint, Facebook, Twitter, LDAP, Google Apps, and more! All of this is made possible through a partnership with CData - not a mixed- bag of drivers of varying quality from multiple vendors.
Time is Money-Adeptia Saved Both
Beyond the months of development time CData saved Adeptia, there is ongoing value added by each Driver that CData supports. CData keeps on top of all of the API changes affecting any Drivers. For example, when Intuit deprecated the original QuickBooks Online API in favor of a new one, CData was the only company in the industry to support the change. CData applies that same diligence to all of its drivers so its customers and OEM Partners do not have to. Companies like Adeptia can focus on their core offering without being distracted by API changes to Salesforce or a new Facebook Ads API, etc.
The CData OEM agreement is the most flexible and competitively priced OEM for Drivers on the market. There are no royalties, no audits, and no tedious forms to fill out or deployments to count. One OEM Agreement covers unlimited deployments of all CData Drivers, along with any new Drivers. CData's current track record is new drivers for 5 to 8 data sources every quarter.
The synergy between Adeptia and CData means that Adeptia Connect is able to easily meet their customers' current and future data needs. By offering out-of-the-box connections to an unmatched array of information sources, Adeptia Connect is certain to shake up the IT SaaS industry.
