MuleSoft Account Executive Wes Disher was a recent guest on Ad Victoriam’s “Salesforce Simplified” podcast, where he detailed how with Robotic Process Automation (RPA), companies can capture and automate their teams workflows instantly – whether through a UI, document or image – and do it with point-and-click tools.

So, what specifically is Robotic Process Automation?

MuleSoft’s Disher explained, “Robotic process automation is a software technology that combines robotics and automation to perform repetitive tasks. RPA is a method for business process automation that uses an application or bot that replicates an employee’s desktop actions by interacting with an interface in the same way that a human traditionally would.”

According to a Deloitte Global RPA survey, 53% of respondents have already started their RPA journey. This is expected to increase to 72% in the next two years. If this continues at its current level, RPA will have achieved near-universal adoption within the next five years.

The Benefits of Implementing RPA

“I think there’s really four main benefits that we’ve identified here at MuleSoft,” Disher explained. “The first one is essentially reducing the overall cost and improving that customer and employee experience. And so, how can we automate the processes for the customer? Shorten their time manually entering a claims process or a loan process. And then, also, taking that task and not putting that on as the responsibility of those agents or those customer success reps and streamlining it.”

Conversely, MuleSoft will tell you that challenges to RPA include: 

– Displace human workers: One of the biggest criticisms of RPA and other automation technology is its potential to eliminate the need for data entry and clerical-style roles.

– Lacks intelligent capabilities: RPA as a standalone technology can only perform tasks that it can copy from a script — lacking the ability to learn and improve the script it’s performing. The next generation of AI and intelligent automation tools are now being introduced to address this pitfall of RPA.

– Project complexity: Transformative RPA projects tend to be complex and require a time commitment to see the return on investment — as a result, some RPA projects fail before the value is realized.

Seamless Integration with Anypoint Platform and Composer

And if you were wondering, yes, RPA seamlessly integrates with MuleSoft’s Anypoint Platform and Composer.

According to Disher, “The way we’ve actually built our RPA solution was through an acquisition of Servicetrace just about two years ago. Our product team has really put a massive emphasis on bringing these three technologies together. The best news and the best part about it is it’s all built on the Anypoint Platform. What you’re building and what you’re creating in RPA or Composer allows you to be able to reuse that going forward.”

Building a Successful Automation Strategy

AdVic also asked Disher to give us his thoughts on how companies should go about constructing a successful automation strategy.

“I truly believe as companies continue to adopt digital platforms,” Disher remarked. “It’s extremely important to have top-down alignment on these strategic initiatives that you’re looking to enable for not only the company, but also deliver to your customers, and putting the customers at the center of everything that you do. That’s truly where MuleSoft is allowing these organizations and empowering them to really automate everything and empower everyone on a single platform.”

There is much more to our conversation with MuleSoft’s Wes Disher, including a discussion of how RPA creates better customer and employee experiences, the training that MuleSoft offers around RPA, and much more. Listen here, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Ad Victoriam’s certified, experienced and passionate MuleSoft® consultants team up with businesses to integrate Robotic Process Automation (RPA) into a scalable architecture that can help your business grow. Let’s start talking about it today!

Related Resources: 

What is Robotic Process Automation  (RPA)?

MuleSoft RPA

Replace Repetitive Processes and Tasks with MuleSoft RPA (Podcast)

MuleSoft Consulting Services

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Developments in technology continue to progress and are furthering to improve human lives through convenience and recreation. In the 21st century, it is safe to say that “data is the new oil.” With everything being digitized, data is the key for smooth functionality and happy customers. However, data management can become quite complex and acts as a double-edged sword, thus it is extremely crucial for organizations to have the right tools and services to manage their data.

Integration, a subject not widely understood, has become the present and the future of digital transformation. Here’s how Salesforce® and MuleSoft® are transforming data and delivering a seamless customer experience.

MuleSoft as a Catalyst to Making Your Data Available

MuleSoft serves as a catalyst to communicate between applications and services via integration. It offers multiple components and a centralized platform to ensure connectivity and data simplification throughout the business. The enterprises are heterogeneous, as they are composed of many different systems with their own data structures and requirements. And while these systems are used as integrated solutions to drive business processes, they can create data-related complications due to disparate structures. Data processing, such as migration and synchronization, will be difficult to maintain when there are large amounts of data. 

There is also the issue of managing the links between those systems and modifying them without disrupting the entire working ecosystem. MuleSoft, as a catalyst, provides a tool called Anypoint Platform, which provides accessibility to the essential components in providing integration solutions.

Here is an overview of some core components of MuleSoft as an integration tool:

• CloudHub: An enterprise-class cloud-based integration platform that allows organizations to utilize Anypoint Connectors to develop integration flows that connect applications and create new APIs, in addition to existing data sources. CloudHub makes it possible to connect with SaaS and on-premises applications and services at cloud speed.

• Anypoint Connector: A library of reusable extensions that allow MuleSoft to integrate with both legacy and SaaS systems to enable seamless data processes. With access to multiple APIs, businesses can build connectivity and deliver real-time data across the business ecosystem.

• DataWeave: This is powered by the data language and is designed to filter, extract, and transform one or more different types of data together to create another data format, such as XML and Java to JSON. DataWeave does support a wide range of file types, including flat and structured data, which provide a flexibility that can help the businesses cope with systems using different data formats per process.

• Database Connectivity: The Database Connector can be downloaded from Anypoint Connectors to establish a connection with almost any relational database and perform SQL queries. This allows the organizations to access the data in the database without writing additional code to bypass the authentications.

 Visualize Your Data in Real Time

Salesforce, one of the world’s leading cloud-based CRM software, offers the best user-friendly interface along with a variety of tools that make it easy to visualize and analyze real-time customer information from multiple organizations. While some of Salesforce’s tools are not suitable for all businesses, it does provide AppExchange to fit specific organizations, departments and roles. Additional visualization tools are located in AppExchange and integrated into Salesforce to meet business needs.

What are the Challenges in Understanding the Data and Why Salesforce?

Raw data are being captured on a daily basis to establish baselines, benchmarks, and goals for the organizations. However, most of these data have no value unless properly analyzed. It is also a challenge that the data is being captured and retained infinitely, leading to an enormous amount of data needing many resources to do the comprehension. The difficulty increases as there are multiple risks contributing to the process that can cause organization more harm than good.  For example, there is the potential of confusion and diverse outcomes of the same data set due to different individuals’ analyses. Salesforce is the key to handling all customer information within a few clicks. It offers effective tools for data visualization and analysis, in which it can help organizations make decisions and leverage business growth.

Instead of using the traditional reports and dashboards that are limited and require manual modifications, Salesforce can produce visualizations based on the criteria information, such as payments by month or sales by period. These visualizations are real-time, customizable and interactive for users. They are presented in a dashboard format that includes data tables, graphs and criteria-based measures. 

The bottom line is that Salesforce is able to view data in real-time and produces real results. It provides a better picture of the organization overall as the insights, causes, and trends are explicitly displayed. Salesforce and its visual data tools also save companies time and money while improving their efficiency.

At a glance, these are some of the popular tools for data visualization:

• Einstein Analytics
• Tableau
• Datorama

Business Partners Make Each Other Better

MuleSoft’s partnership with Salesforce is revolutionary as it accelerates digital transformation and transcends the connected customer experience. MuleSoft is capable of creating APIs that can connect to any system, application, and data source. This makes it easier for Salesforce to retrieve real-time data across systems, either in the cloud or on-premises, and produce a unified customer view on a single platform. With MuleSoft as the data link, Salesforce can end data siloing in disparate systems and prioritize the ultimate customer experience value proposition – integrations. Essentially, MuleSoft and Salesforce are the best combination when dealing with complex integrations and helping organizations to build an integrated approach that is scalable and reliable.

As a Salesforce and MuleSoft Partner, AdVic is uniquely qualified to provide your business with a scalable architecture so it can grow. Fill out the brief form below, or click here to learn more about how the combination of Salesforce, MuleSoft and AdVic can empower your teams to lead your business to VICTORY. 

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What Can MuleSoft Do for Your Salesforce Org?

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And in case you missed the sessions, the Ad Victoriam team captured some of the highlights and we’re thrilled to present them to you in our Part 1 below. You can read Part 2 here.

Keynote Highlights

With a theme centered around “Creating Connected Experiences Faster,” the MuleSoft Digital CONNECT for 2020 keynote had CMO Lindsey Irvine kick things off by talking about the global response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the focus on empowering your workforce, and she announced that MuleSoft was making a donation to the WHO (World Health Organization) COVID-19 Response Fund for every CONNECT attendee – up to $15,000.

Next, MuleSoft Founder Ross Mason (pictured, below) talked about innovating for the new normal by proclaiming, “All at once, here comes everybody (sales, marketing, customer service, support) – anyone who needs access to information needs access to it now and your organization – especially IT – needs to figure out how to unlock those digital assets and enable your people.”

He added a quote he’s recently taken a liking to: “When we go back to normal, normal isn’t going to be what it was like before.” He then outlined three challenges for companies in the “new normal”:

1. IT needs to become more “self-service.”
2. Remote workers need to get access to digital capabilities without help from IT.
3. Companies need a new model for innovation.

In addition, SVP of Product, Shaun Clowes, among other things, showcased how their Anypoint Platform makes application networks possible and also talked about three areas of key product investment for MuleSoft in the past year to help customers become more responsive, efficient, and resilient right now:

1. Global Marketplace for APIs and integrations partnerships
2. Developer Productivity (Accelerators, tutorials & docs, Knowledge Hub)
3. Expert Community (60 countries, 126 groups, 30,000 members)

The keynote wrapped with singer/songwriter John Legend performing solo on a piano from his home.

The Sessions

Session: Delivering Innovation Online and In-Stores with AnyPoint Platform

Highlights: Enabling Omni-Channel experiences with MuleSoft and Salesforce improves shopper engagement in several ways:

1. Connect Commerce Anywhere: Easily integrate eCommerce systems to core systems such as ERP, OMS, and POS with out-of-the-box connectors and integration templates.
2. Establish Omni-channel Connectivity: Deliver a consistent experience across all channels by enabling teams to self-serve from a repository of reusable APIs.
3. Scale Your Operations Resiliently: Operate on a secure and stable platform with 99.99 percent uptime that adapts to unpredictable traffic spikes.

Benefits to MuleSoft Users: Retailers can leverage an API-led porch to rapidly connect their front- and back-end applications that underpin their Omni-Channel initiatives. In addition, MuleSoft’s new Accelerator for Salesforce Commerce Cloud jumpstarts commerce projects three-times faster.

Session: Anypoint Platform 101: Building APIs and Integrations on Anypoint Platform

Highlights: With Anypoint Platform you can:

1. Real-time view of orders
2. Unlock order data using system APIs that integrate data into Salesforce
3. Accelerate API development (fast to start, faster over time)

Benefits to MuleSoft Users: Anypoint Platform offers users the ability to build integrations faster with its easy-to-use drag and drop builder. You can also re-use existing APIs without coding, take advantage of simplified re-usable connections, and transform data with ease.

Session: How to Measure the Value of Integration

Highlights: The Value of Integration

1. The only question that matters: Are we delivering value? Example: Using Anypoint Platform, API-led, and C4E your company saved XX hours of project and maintenance work over X years, saving $X in cost.
2. In today’s digital world it’s critical that you get integration right.
3. Organizations need to meet the demand for digital experiences to solve three fundamentals: Ensure business continuity; Empower their digital workforce with new ways of working; Use technology to power your transformation.

Benefits to MuleSoft Users: 1. Reducing costs (helping customers use fewer resources). 2. Improving productivity (doing more with the same people). 3. Increase revenue (bringing projects to market faster).

Session: A Prescriptive Approach to Leading Organizations Through Change

Highlights:

1. Achieving outcomes – a three-pronged approach for success (overcome challenges IT Face) – Outcome Driven, Timely Delivery, and Stakeholder Alignment.
2. Their approach to this: align with business outcomes, enabling org to achieve those outcomes, and delivering technology to begin building while also investing in a platform to drive longer-term value.
3. How to Achieve the Three Outcomes:

• Business Outcomes. Making sure to have clear business objectives with KPIs, and key stakeholders onboard who are aligned around those KPIs.
• Organizational Enablement. Effectively use the Anypoint Platform to achieve the defined business outcomes.
• Technology Delivery. Being able to build right away, address that initial use case while investing in a platform to achieve longer-term value. This is referred to as balanced deployment – do this all at once.

Benefits to MuleSoft Users: Most tech companies don’t focus on all of this at once and they may fail. MuleSoft Catalyst helps projects be successful by supplying outcome-driven methodology, assets, and implementation. Their technical assets and implementation assistants – including API templates and industry accelerators – are all downloadable to make the project go faster. From planning for success to establishing a foundation to measuring impact. MuleSoft Catalyst Knowledge Hub also offers design guides, playbooks, and more – all based on best practices in the self-service portal.

Session: Choosing the Right Business Model

Highlights:

Choosing the right business model begins with
1. Design an effective product for the client – the best way is to identify the business model. 2020 connectivity benchmark report- lots of info – SEE API BENEFITS – great stats.
2. How APIs and bus models interact
API business models, how APIs and Business Models interact, focuses on the business value.

Recipe for a business model – create, deliver, and capture value. APIs are the value exchange in the digital economy. The value exchange process is the real power of API. The business creates and delivers solutions that solve customers’ problems. It’s the product that solves problems which is the essence of the value exchange – from the business to the customer. Then the customer exchanges value (pays the business).

Benefits to MuleSoft Users: APIs are the value exchange in the digital economy – they get the data in the hands of those who need it affecting all areas of business and helps get people up and running faster.

Session: Unlock the Back Office with MuleSoft and Salesforce

Highlights:

1. Integrated data impacts the entire org – not just sales.
2. There are 900+ connected applications, with only 29% of those applications connected. As a result, many orgs turn to custom code which works quickly, but it’s hard to scale, difficult to maintain and strains IT.
3. Pains of disconnected systems – synchronization, lower productivity, incomplete reporting, and poor user experience. In addition to a primary pain point, ERPs connectivity as they are the backbone of businesses.

Benefits to MuleSoft Users: Solving this issue with front and back-office data sync to Salesforce so processes are then automated across systems. MuleSoft provides more than 200 integration templates for 5x faster integration. And also supports integration outside of Salesforce.

As a certified MuleSoft Anypoint and Salesforce consulting partner, Ad Victoriam’s integration experts understand the complexities of enterprise integrations, both on-premise and in the cloud. We simplify complex integration scenarios, integrate disparate systems, and provide a scalable architecture that your business can grow with – whether or not you are using Salesforce. So, if you are ready to connect your systems, we’re ready to talk to you today.

Related Articles
MuleSoft Digital CONNECT 2020 Highlights – Part 2
YANMAR Returns for a MuleSoft Integration

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However, simply producing high-quality APIs is not enough to succeed in the API Economy. Organizations must also encourage consumption of their APIs by providing discoverability, self-service capabilities, and support. Modern APIs should be treated like products; each with its own lifecycle, adoption strategy, and clear focus on a target audience.

True to this vision of the modern API, MuleSoft® has introduced Anypoint API Community Manager; a tool for building an API consumption ecosystem for your organization. Anypoint API Community Manager contains a highly valuable set of capabilities to drive API adoption:

• Pre-defined portal templates allow API producers to rapidly create compelling user experiences around their APIs. These templates can be extended to provide API consumers with a pixel-perfect digital experience.
• Interactive documentation features allow API consumers to rapidly gain working knowledge of your APIs through tutorials, code-snippets, and a callable API mocking service.
• Developer forums, chat, and case management functionality enables your organization to provide direct service to API consumers and to build a peer-support network.

Most importantly, Anypoint API Community Manager enables your organization to measure the success of API adoption efforts with a powerful suite of Engagement Analytics tools. You can utilize a wide range of out-of-the-box metrics and dashboard components as well as create your own. These usage metrics can be used to define KPIs and iteratively improve API consumption.

Combined with MuleSoft’s tools for API development, deployment, and governance, the capabilities of Anypoint API Community Manager allows your organization to deliver on the promises of API-led connectivity; saving time and money, increased speed, and long-term agility.

About Ad Victoriam Solutions

Ad Victoriam Solutions is a certified MuleSoft partner that helps clients address on-premises, cloud and hybrid integration use cases with scale and ease of use. For assistance with your integration needs and challenges, complete the form below and our integration specialists will contact you.

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