According to a Forrester presentation / survey "Integration issues are the largest barrier to SaaS Adoption". Looks like salesforce.com is try to plug this very problem with the announcement of ApexConnect, an integration tool to connect on-demand applications to back-end systems, analysts say Salesforce.com has moved to stuff that bogeyman back in the closet and has given SaaS enterprise-level capabilities.

The new tools include ConnectOut, an outbound messaging API that can orchestrate an event in an external system, such as SAP, based on a trigger event in Saleforce.com, said Kendall Collins, senior vice president of marketing at Salesforce.

"It has the ability to kick off a process with an SAP or Oracle system," Collins said.

Another ApexConnect tool, ConnectOracle, will give IT the capability to connect to any Oracle back office system to synchronize data between Salesforce's CRM application and Oracle's ERP systems, Collins said

"[Systems integrators] have been holding back, [on SaaS] waiting to see what the next big technology shift is going to be. Announcements like this that will help them decide," Denis Pombriant, principal at Beagle Research said.

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Prashanth Rai