The Client Challenge

An AdVic client’s technology was lagging behind and they were becoming less and less relevant to their merchants. They had an antiquated, homegrown system called Business Platform (still in-service for now) that sorely needed a modern, more functional interface – and had a seamless mobile experience, too. 

To get there, the client knew they had to start offering services to their merchants and their partners’ merchants (B2B and B2C) to remain competitive. Specifically, the payment gateway provider had a wish list that included:

• Supplying their customers with a device that swipes credit cards in their brick and mortar stores.
• The ability to accept online transactions.
• Offer self-service options to their merchants.
• Implement modern APIs that allow them to do more for themselves and their customers.
• Offer the latest touchless pay terminals.

The Back Story

Prior to working with AdVic, the client, a company that enables a global network of merchants to accept payments anywhere and easily manage all on one platform, had executive advisors recommended that they have a road-mapping strategy to help them securely do business in multiple channels including online, mobile, and in-person. 

As it turned out, one of those executives had worked with AdVic on a previous project and led them to contact AdVic to implement their needed integrations. 

Here’s a look at the solution AdVic delivered.

The AdVic Solution

The AdVic strategy for the client was to implement Salesforce® and to use MuleSoft® to integrate Salesforce with their backend systems and use Salesforce as a system of engagement with a Customer 360 view. That way, all of their merchants can log in and see all of their transactions, see what plan they are on, onboard quickly, request equipment, etc. 

There were also numerous actions set up in Service Cloud that helped the client’s’ merchants to deflect cases – allowing the merchants to solve their issues quickly with the resources made available – before they had to pick up the phone and call somebody or send an email or submit a case through the portal. 

The truth is, the client was able to do all of those things in the past. However, by leveraging Salesforce, they had the ability to use MuleSoft to integrate their current system with a much more modern automated system with a robust interface that instantly garnered them the accolades of their merchants and saved the company money, too. And best of all, with the impressive capabilities of MuleSoft along with AdVic’s experienced team, the client began reaping the benefits of the system within just a few short months.

Are you considering a Salesforce and MuleSoft integration? You will want to seriously consider a consultant who is not just interested in building your next project but wants to build your business for future success. The AdVic team is ready to start your project today. Reach us here.

Related Resources:

How Salesforce and MuleSoft Create a Seamless Customer Experience

What Can MuleSoft Do for Your Salesforce Org?

MuleSoft Composer’s Ease of Use Reduces the Need for IT

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Integration is the future. In an increasingly technology-driven world, it is crucial that there is a single source of truth for your company’s information. If your employees must go to multiple different places to get the information they need, you have wasted time, money, and energy. 

Salesforce® and MuleSoft® can create a powerful, real-time integrated experience in your Salesforce org. This article will explain what it means to have an integrated experience in your Salesforce org and how to acquire that experience with MuleSoft. In addition, we will cover some of the basic integration tools in Salesforce, a high-level overview of MuleSoft architecture and how these tools work together. 

Salesforce Integration Tools for MuleSoft 

Salesforce is built to be integrated with your legacy systems to create a 360 degree view of your customers for your Salesforce users. MuleSoft can be added to your Salesforce org by adding a Connected App in the App Manager settings. 

The best way to allow MuleSoft to have access to your Salesforce org is by creating an integration user. When the user is set up, save the username, password, and security token that is sent to the related email. These credentials will be used in MuleSoft to login to Salesforce and make changes to the data via the Salesforce REST API. 

Salesforce can communicate changes to the data to MuleSoft in a few different ways. The most common and simple way being via Platform Events and Process Builders. A Platform Event can be created in Salesforce and triggered to send a message to MuleSoft via a Process Builder. In this way, you can create the trigger to respond to whatever changes in the data suit your business needs. 

In addition, an APEX Class can be configured to use the Salesforce REST API mentioned earlier. An APEX Class is created in the Developer console and is written to receive the request from Salesforce regarding the change in data, then that message is sent to a listener in MuleSoft, similar to the way the first option with Platform Events works. However, it is highly recommended that you use Platform Events and Process Builders because they require significantly less Salesforce Development time and are easier to maintain in the long run. 

MuleSoft Architecture – How Does it Work? 

MuleSoft architecture is unique from other integration platforms because it is an Enterprise Service Bus architecture model. This means that MuleSoft is the translator between many different systems. You can create APIs unique to your systems that only change when that system changes. Then, these system APIs speak to each other through MuleSoft processing APIs. As you can see in the diagram below, systems do not connect directly to each other. Rather, they are connected through MuleSoft. 

In MuleSoft, there are three kinds of APIs that are created: 

• Experience API (Channels): Produces what the end user needs to see and interact with.
• Process API (Processes): Performs the transformations between systems.
  • Translates each of the systems to Salesforce or other systems that need to communicate.
• System API (Data): Represents what is held in each system.

Below is an example of how these APIs can be structured: 

As you can see, the system layer represents the two systems that need to be integrated. These system API’s do not contain any of the business logic to “translate” Salesforce to the ERP system. The process layer APIs contain the business logic for Products, Orders, and Customers so that this data can be translated from one system to another. The top layer, Experience APIs, create what the end users interact with. These APIs generally contain schedules for when the other API’s should run in order for the data to move from system to system.

This kind of architecture creates many significant benefits to integrating with MuleSoft. To start, it creates reusable, scalable, and secure integrations. Once you have created a System API, you do not need to ever create it again. You may need to make small additions, but you will be able to connect that system to any other system via a Process API by reusing the System API. This leads to increased agility on projects, less time wasted, and more money saved. Similar to the App Exchange, there is an Anypoint Exchange for MuleSoft. Here you can find connectors, accelerators, integration patterns, etc., that you can use in your projects instead of starting from scratch yourself.

Salesforce + MuleSoft: Catalyze Your integrated Experience

The combination of Salesforce integration tools and MuleSoft can create the integrated experience you’ve been looking for in your Salesforce org. It can be difficult to fully transition from legacy systems to Salesforce and with MuleSoft you can implement Salesforce at your own pace. This will allow you to slowly retire your legacy system operations while keeping your data up to date in real time and creating a future-proof implementation. MuleSoft can be updated in an extremely agile manner to keep your systems up-to-date and avoid technical debt build up.

With a MuleSoft integrated experience, your Salesforce users will be able to see the data they need in one place. This will create an increased level of trust in your Salesforce org from the start and make the transition away from legacy systems as painless as possible. The future is integrated and MuleSoft can take you there.

As a certified MuleSoft Anypoint and Salesforce multi-cloud 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.

*This article also appears on Salesforce Ben

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Members of the Ad Victoriam MuleSoft® Consulting Team attended the virtual conference and chose a few session highlights to share.

Session: Streamline and Scale Lending with API-led Integration

This breakout session provided a good understanding of how lending companies have addressed the need to deliver products and services with the use of a digital platform.

API-led connectivity plays a big part in lending-type MuleSoft applications, as this helps to define or refactor current business processes to help improve the overall end to end customer experience.

During the session, Truist Bank CIO, Ken Meyer, talked about how adopting MuleSoft is not just a technology effort, it requires the business to define all the requirements for the APIs that can then be implemented using MuleSoft.

With the use of APIs and MuleSoft, companies within the lending industry can unlock data from other systems, automate manual business processes, and drive innovation with more speed and agility.

Session: Revolutionize the Patient Journey in Life Sciences Through APIs

This session focused on how in today’s healthcare world patients are seeking virtual engagement.

Due to COVID19 healthcare companies are having to rapidly change and adapt to the growing virtual needs of patients.

The MuleSoft Anypoint platform is helping healthcare providers to quickly combine disparate systems with builder block APIs to drive interoperability. Traditionally IT teams would not be efficient enough to quickly build out new interrogations.

To support the healthcare industry’s needs, such as those that COVID19 has presented, the API building block approach with MuleSoft allows IT teams to build upon past phases to narrow the development timeline.

Session: Manage Changing Retail Operations with Real-Time Data

The main subject of the presentation was how retail has changed significantly in the last few months due to COVID19.

Kreena Mehta, Lead Software Engineer of Asics Digital showed how they used SAP and MuleSoft to streamline their operations and quickly adjust their supply chain to a more delivery-based model as opposed to the traditional brick and mortar.

MuleSoft made this easy with its API-Led approach because the existing processes did not have to be changed from the top down, just the targeted areas dealing with shipping/receiving.

The digital shopping experience is now the number one priority in the retail space due to more online shopping by consumers.

As a certified MuleSoft Anypoint and Salesforce multi-cloud 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.

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So, what’s happening behind the scenes in each of these interactions? APIs (application programming interfaces) are… And that’s why it’s increasingly critical for innovative retailers that want to reach customers in new ways to develop and execute successful API strategies.

So, when developing your API strategy, here are several steps retailers should consider:

Build a Single View of the Customer

A common problem with a growing business is that you often outgrow the systems that track your customers. With the limited capacity to upgrade and properly synchronize these sources of customer data, many times you end up with small silos of specific data: customers, orders, loyalty, etc. Retrieving that data into a single view is difficult to achieve with conventional tools that are used by most retail businesses.

MuleSoft® is a top platform that can bring these disparate systems together and present them in a single, 360-degree view. This gives you the insight your business needs to truly know your customers. MuleSoft’s API-led architecture allows systems to be brought together as needed and utilized as one single powerful tool for retailers.

Optimize the Supply Chain

Develop Better Data Orchestration for Reporting

In addition to an omnichannel view of your customers, the same tools and APIs that were created to allow for customer insight can be reused to create an accurate and timely data source for your reporting, accounting, or auditing needs. MuleSoft’s reusability means quicker to-market times for your development. That translates into a better bottom line for your IT needs. The power of unlocking your data can take your business to the next level.

Offer Contactless Engagement

As you go about developing your API strategy, double-down on digital commerce. Also, plan on offering your customers the ability to take advantage of contactless engagement (mobile/wearable payments, inside and curbside pickup, tap-and-go card payments).

Nowadays, not only are your customers expecting the ease of a contactless engagement experience with you, it makes them feel safe and secure while completing their transactions.

And beyond offering your customers a convenient, secure method of payment, mobile payments can also help expand your customer base. This ensures your business achieves greater success on its journey to growth.

As a certified MuleSoft 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 retail business can grow with. So, are you ready to get connected? Talk to a certified MuleSoft consultant today!

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