We are no strangers to Salesforce and MuleSoft, working in tandem with both partners to achieve integration success with our customers across a variety of industries. As the dust finally settling on Salesforce’s monumental $6.5 billion dollar acquisition of MuleSoft, we wanted to also acknowledge what this means for the industry now and going forward.
In today’s business, the right technology assets drive bottom line success. Application programming interfaces (APIs) have emerged as a fundamental tool as a part of the journey, starting with Google’s acquisition of Apigee in late 2016. What does the more recent acquisition entail for the market?
For Salesforce, continued innovation is a critical piece of their product portfolio. In just the week since announcing the acquisition, the company introduced Integration Cloud, consisting of:
- Integration Platform, which will run on software developed by MuleSoft.
- Integration Builder, which allows for a complete picture of a customer across all their enterprise data repositories.
- Integration Experiences, designed to help organizations build customized experiences.
According to Salesforce COO Keith Block, “This is thinking about the next 10 years”, as organizations attempt to move forward from their frustrations caused by locked legacy data.
For MuleSoft, this acquisition serves as a validation of their work in the API space on the heels of a successful IPO early last year, while increasing the adoption and visibility of APIs overall. Gartner’s Full Lifecycle API Management and Enterprise iPaaS reports peg MuleSoft as an industry leader, with companies such as Netflix, Target, and Verizon trusting its offerings to extend applications and add further value to data.
Director of the IoT & Connectivity practice at Perficient, Annel Adzem, says, “It’s the largest deal in Salesforce’s 19 year history, so it speaks volumes to the importance of APIs and unlocking data. Salesforce can offer a complete solution to their customers and address integration needs.”
From a greater market perspective, this acquisition will likely stir up greater competition in the integration market, already valued at $25-30 billion and expected to grow annually by 25% according to figures from the Cleveland Research Company.
The Road from Here
We are partnered with both Salesforce and MuleSoft, our expertise is here for you as you make sense of your API and customer management needs. You can leverage the following resources to understand our capabilities and reach out to an expert who can answer your questions.
