Over the last ten years, iPaaS (integration Platforms as a Service) has grown from obscurity to becoming critical platforms relied upon by millions of businesses for their day-to-day operations.

The idea behind iPaaS is that you can connect all of your software applications, regardless of what vendor you bought them from, and it can be done with no knowledge of computer programming.

By connecting your software applications, you’re then able to simplify an organization’s overall system by creating a consistent structure. The iPaas framework makes a seamless integration of resources across multiple clouds and between cloud and legacy applications.

Image Credits: Gartner Research

How iPaaS Works

Each software application supported by an iPaaS contains a “connector.” These connectors include triggers and/or actions.

A CRM application may contain triggers like “New Contact Added” or “Callback Scheduled.” When the specified trigger is activated (for example, someone adds a new contact into the system), another connector’s action may be performed. Some possible actions may be “Send an Email,” “Generate a Report,” etc.

Data247 connectors only contain actions. Each action corresponds to one of our Data247 data services, like Append247(Email), Append247(Phone), Verify247(Email), etc.

Example

Assume you wanted to connect your CRM to Data247 so that whenever you add a new contact without an email address, it automatically requests Data247 to populate it. To accomplish this, you would select the connector for your CRM, find the “New Contact Added” trigger, and connect it to Data247’s Append247(Email) action.

Data247 currently works with the following iPaaS Providers: appypie connect, integromat, workato, zapier among others.

Core Functionalities of iPaaS Solutions

A robust iPaaS solution includes distinct characteristics, which are vital to the achievement of the platform. Below is a graphical representation of the core functionalities of an iPaaS solution.

Image Credits: Gartner Research

Business Benefits of iPaaS

An iPaaS platform brings an organization’s unique needs together into a cloud-based toolkit. It influences the speed and economics of that cloud-based toolkit to support businesses, to produce several significant business benefits such as:

• iPaaS solutions are cost-efficient as they remove the need to recruit expensive developers to generate code integrations. The solutions are also accessible through monthly or annual subscriptions deployed on the cloud, thereby eliminating the need for software and hardware requirements, all of which lead to huge savings.

• iPaaS solutions provide flexible pricing and licensing models as they remove restrictions on existing ESB or legacy middleware applications. These solutions can modify existing policy and licensing models such as Shared CPC resources. Flexible pricing is made possible by iPaaS ‘always-open’ multichannel digital platform, which connects data, applications, devices, processes, and people.

• iPaaS provides a low-code development that utilizes point & click, drag & drop capabilities that allow semi-skilled developers to visually map out the integrations and deploy pre-built connectors for faster and cost-effective deployment applications.

• The user-friendly and intuitive design of iPaaS solutions enable businesses to speed up their linking processes with several systems cost-effectively

• iPaaS offers automatic, reliable & regular updates that lower maintenance costs

• iPaaS solutions track data in real-time on operations and use this business intelligence for enhanced decision making

• Provides a secure gateway for transferring data between cloud and on-premise applications within a cloud-based integration environment.

• Provides a scalable solution in term of both technical and commercial needs, allowing businesses to grow and meet their demands effectively

• Provides a higher degree of agility, speed, and flexibility, allowing businesses to adjust to the changing environment cost-efficiently.

• Better sales and marketing alignment is achieved by deploying a marketing automation process within an iPaaS solution that removes duplicate records and accelerates data flows. iPaas is a great alternative to conventional integration methods. It offers a robust framework to integrate SaaS, first-party services, and legacy systems with scale and speed.

For any questions on how Data247 data integrations services can help your business be more productive, please open a support ticket, or call us at +1 (877) 805-3282 and we shall get back to you.