ERP Integrations | CRM Integrations

Jitterbit + Salesforce Lightning Connect: Real-time Back Office Integration is Here

Jitterbit and Salesforce Lightning Connect

Today, Salesforce announced a major enhancement to its integration capabilities with Salesforce1 Lightning Connect! As always, we have been working closely behind the scenes with Salesforce, and are proud to announce the new Jitterbit Lightning Connector for Salesforce real-time integration.

Lightning Connect moves Salesforce beyond the traditional Data Integration and Process Integration options they have enabled for years. With Lightning Connect, Salesforce users can instantly access mission critical data from third-party and back-office systems from any Salesforce1 app without actually saving the external data in Salesforce. The trick is a new industry standard called OData that works together with a new addition to the Salesforce 1 data model called Salesforce External Objects.  This new OData API service allows Lightning Connect to access data within third-party enterprise endpoints and applications, like SAP via OData, in real time and display the data virtually via the new External Objects. The benefit to a customer is clear. For the first time, Salesforce users can instantly see a comprehensive, enterprise-wide view of their customers without having to synchronize multiple data sets or write a single line of code.

The Jitterbit Lightning Connector is what connects Salesforce to external applications like SAP in just minutes without the need for code. The Harmony Cloud Platform provides connectivity to hundreds of external enterprise systems. The platform will now include OData transformation, instant APIs, in addition to the Visual Design studio to power this next generation of integration. We are excited to be showing live demos of Lightning Connect next week at the New York Salesforce1 Tour.  Live demos take less than 10 minutes. In each demo, we’ll walk you through the steps of designing, publishing, and running an OData API service that can be accessed in real time from any Salesforce1 app using Lightning Connect from scratch. If you can’t make the event, click on the below link for a personal demo from one of our experts. The Jitterbit Lightning Connector is in now in active preview and expected to be GA Q1 2015.

Connecting the front and back office has never been easier than right now. Natalie Gagliordi of ZDnet mentioned this ease of use, saying “integration with Lightning Connect is completely code-free and much faster, using the OData open data transfer protocol to cut the data transport time down to a few minutes, rather than a few months”.  Lightning Connect works with Jitterbit’s Harmony cloud integration platform to instantly access any type of SAP data, such as orders, invoices or credit history, without persisting the data.  This means it’s now that much easier to access data from SAP and display it in any Salesforce application in real-time on any device.

Its important to note that Salesforce1 Lightning Connect is part of the latest “Lightning” announcements from the Salesforce1 Platform for rapidly building and deploying custom and mobile apps that run on any device or screen-size.  By providing an easy to use building and connecting force.com applications, Salesforce has extended the advantages of their platform tremendously.  Launching Lightning Connect as part of this new platform push provides a new breed of real-time integration for enterprise applications.  Additionally, the use of external objects in Salesforce means customers don’t have to move and store data in Salesforce, thus reducing the necessary storage space for your instance while ensuring you have the most accurate, up-to-date information from your back office every time you view a Salesforce record.

On working with Salesforce, our VP of Product, Andrew Leigh said “we are pleased to work with the Salesforce1 Platform team to help connect the new era of digital processes business. Lightning Connect represents a new generation of digital connectivity that enables companies to deliver more engaging and meaningful experiences to their customers.”

At the end of the day, integration isn’t about moving bits and bytes of data — it’s about transforming your business with new digital processes that span multiple applications, departments and partners. Integration remains the last barrier for companies that seek the ever-ellusive “true 360-degree view” of of their customer from any device.   Jitterbit and Lightning Connect just made opened a new chapter in real-time enterprise integration.

 

Want to learn more? Connect with a Jitterbit expert and we’ll give you the full scoop, a live demo, and get you on the path to success at lightning speed.

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