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Author's profile photo Richard Hirsch

Should SAP be worried about a Mulesoft ‘SAP Customer OnDemand Connector’?

I was recently doing research on another Customer OnDemand-related blog and I came across a new offering from Mulesoft entitled “SAP Customer OnDemand Connector” which is based on Mulesoft’s CloudHub, an integrated platform as a service (iPaaS).

Moreover, with MuleSoft Anypoint™ Connectors, Customer OnDemand can establish instant API connectivity to any popular applications or services. Leveraging repeatable integration solutions permits users to have connectivity on-premise or in the cloud. Moreover, because MuleSoft takes advantage of the entire Customer OnDemand API, CloudHub utilizes the full set of CRUD (create, read, update, delete) operations.  [SOURCE]

Besides this one page of details, I’ve been unable to find any additional information or other references to the product

Yet, the presence of this offer from Mulesoft should be worrying SAP inasmuch as this offer is direct competition with SAP’s own efforts in this area.  As illustrated by two videos by Ginger Gatling demonstrating Customer OnDemand integration with ECC and OnPremise CRM, SAP also has similar plans. 

Note: Besides these two videos, I haven’t seen any other recent material on such LoB integrations. Currently, SAP is focusing primarily on the integration between SuccessFactors and OnPremise HCM systems and other integrations receive less public – and perhaps, internal – attention. 

POV

  • The Mulesoft SAP Customer OnDemand Connector appears to be available today.   Release dates for competitive integration products for SAP’s Integration as a Service offering are still vague and might come as late as later this year.  Maybe, we will hear some news regarding such dates at the upcoming Sapphire.
  • Mulesoft’s CloudHub is definitely a competition for SAP’s Integration as a Service offering. It already has an impressive variety of connectors – including an offering for SuccessFactors. It will be difficult for SAP to compete on the quantity of connectors. In my opinion, SAP should focus on quality especially regarding the integration between SAP OnDemand and OnPremise offerings.  Mulesoft can’t compete with SAP’s internal knowledge of its own applications – this advantage must be exploited and be presented as the major selling point of the upcoming IntaaS offering.
  • I have no idea how SAP’s IntaaS offer will be priced but the CloudHub Plans & Pricing page is instructional in determining possible plans for SAP’s equivalent offering.  One important distinction between SAP and Mulesoft in this area is that SAP also offers the OnDemand applications involved in the various integrations. Thus, flexibility in IntaaS pricing might be an important selling advantage for such applications.  Prospects might even be offered discounted integration costs when purchasing such applications.  This tight association between IntaaS and the  different SaaS applications would also hopefully benefit customers who are able to simplify the administration of their cloud subscriptions by using a single vendor instead of multiple suppliers.

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      Author's profile photo Susan Keohan
      Susan Keohan

      Richard,

      I love that you don't just take what you read and assume it's 100% accurate.  And that you are willing to put your analysis out there for all to consider. 
      Thank you,
      Sue

      Author's profile photo Richard Hirsch
      Richard Hirsch
      Blog Post Author

      Susan,

      Thanks.

      I'm just trying to understand how all this stuff fits together.  My opinions in my blogs just reflect that journey. My readers are passengers and drivers who - with their comments - influence the journey we take together. Sometimes the road is a bit rocky and uncomfortable but I'm hopeful always entertaining and interesting.

      D

      Author's profile photo Susan Keohan
      Susan Keohan

      Definitely +100

      Author's profile photo Ginger Gatling
      Ginger Gatling

      Hi Richard

      Mulesoft is one of our partners and this connector has been released through our partner certification program. 

      All the best,

      Ginger

      Author's profile photo Pushkar Ranjan
      Pushkar Ranjan

      Thanks Ginger.

      Author's profile photo Former Member
      Former Member

      Ginger - thanks for the affirmation.

      Richard - Thanks for the thorough investigation of the MuleSoft web site, and for the article.  Toward addressing your concerns, MuleSoft is an active SAP partner, and counts SAP Ventures as one of its strategic investors.   While SAP will provide (in time) is own integration platform in the cloud, it will primarily be focused on SAP to SAP, similar to Netweaver PI is today.   MuleSoft is one of the early access partners, focused on providing both cloud and ground based integration for SAP to non-SAP.  Today we provide SAP certified connectors to ECC directly, through JCO, a native plug-in for Netweaver PI, as well as cloud connectors for both  SAP Sales OnDeman, and SuccessFactors.  We currently have dozens of mutual customers with SAP using our platforms (both Mule ESB on premises, as well as CloudHub, our iPaaS).   SAP has consistently and continues to take an open ecosystem approach, and recognizes there is a lot of best of breed applications that can and do fit around SAP.  MuleSoft is a very viable choice for customers looking to take advantage of this best of breed approach, including hybrid use of SaaS and on-premises applications.  Please don't hesitate to reach out if you have any questions.

      Chris Purpura - VP and GM Cloud Integration - MuleSoft

      www.mulesoft.com

      Author's profile photo Former Member
      Former Member

      Quick question - Can Mulesoft directly connect to BODS 4.2?

      Author's profile photo Paresh Mishra
      Paresh Mishra

      Just to add- SAP provides iPaaS (HANA Cloud Integration). The HCI is available as an subscription model and is provisioned on Cloud as a component of HCP (PaaS) which works in tandem with API Management for all integration needs.

      The HCI already has pre-package content for SAP Cloud LoB solutions such C4C, SF, IBP etc.

      Nevertheless its a generic iPaaS platform which can be used for Non SAP Integration - SAP is already working with Partners and building Third party adaptors on HCI to connect Third Party systems / Cloud Applications such as Kronos etc.