We invited Lou Chappuie — VP, Partner Programs — as a guest blogger for "Boomi AtomSphere: Powered by its Channel", to speak about a recent success with one of our new customers.
Many analysts and bloggers have argued that the self service nature of cloud solutions will ultimately eliminate the need for channel resellers and systems integrators. However compelling this thinking is, Boomi proves the fallacy of this myth every day. The full potential of cloud solution providers (typified by flexible distribution, quick time to value, responsiveness, and organizational scalability) is only enhanced when those SaaS companies team up with channel partners. When applied to the cloud, the traditional channel model is radically transformed – it’s played out on a global scale.
One recent Boomi success, Mindjet, showcases the power of Boomi’s partner ecosystem paired with our cloud integration platform. Mindjet, the leading provider of software and cloud-based applications for visually organizing and managing information and ideas, tapped Boomi to integrate its internal business systems. Amrith Nambiar, Director of Business Applications, first learned of Boomi via Marketo, an OEM partner of Boomi. While implementing Marketo, Amrith recognized the immediate ROI Boomi could deliver by utilizing its cloud middleware to integrate NetSuite and salesforce.com, and sees the potential to expand to the company’s on-premise systems.
On its own merits, the introduction of AtomSphere via Marketo attests to the importance of channel partners in the cloud economy. However, the real story lies in how Boomi utilized its partner ecosystem to deliver the NetSuite and Salesforce integration.
Throughout our sales engagement, Mindjet held firm to one overarching project objective, to be fully integrated by May 15th. Given a contract signing in late April, Boomi faced a mere five weeks to complete the engagement. In order to meet this challenge, Boomi turned to an Australian based SI and Boomi reseller, WDCi, to remotely integrate Mindjet’s opportunity to order business process. Unlike traditional integration vendors that lack pure SaaS offerings and a rich partner ecosystem, Boomi was able to engage the best Systems Integrator for the project independent of geographic location.
Deborah Brook, CEO of WDCi, and her veteran team of former WebMethods and Oracle staff quickly went to work from their competency centers in Australia and Kuala Lumpur to drive this important engagement to a resounding success. As incredible as it seems, WDCi delivered both the data migration and integration services without ever stepping foot in Mindjet’s offices in San Francisco, while doing it on-time and within the original project scope. This is the antithesis of the conventional software and appliance based integration approach which is littered with a history of grueling onsite projects, failed deployments, major cost overruns, vendor-lock, and brittle custom code.
Since the inception of AtomSphere, Boomi has embraced the channel and built a vibrant partner ecosystem to deliver integration from the Web anywhere in the world. When our cloud integration platform is coupled with our channel partners, the dynamics of traditional application integration is flipped on its head. Moreover, when you consider traditional product-based integration vendors, it is obvious that they not only missed the boat in terms of the value of a true multi-tenant integration technology, but they also fundamentally neglected the inherent scalability and agility delivered by a robust partner community.
