DEVOPSdigest

McKinsey estimates that the integrated network economy(link is external) will represent about one-third of the world's total sales output by 2030, demonstrating the value of ecosystem-led growth. The world is increasingly connected, so it's logical that business success is tied to your company's ability to play well with others.

Ecosystem-led growth strategies focus on building and leveraging partnerships(link is external) to drive business growth and innovation. Technological advancements have greatly enhanced data sharing and connectivity, opening up new market opportunities for businesses in all verticals.

Integrations are non-negotiable for B2B SaaS companies to drive ecosystem-led growth, but without the proper development approach, they can detract from your core product by monopolizing dev resources and hampering customer experience. Success hinges on building a scalable integration strategy that grows with the ecosystem.

Building and Maintaining Integrations

In order to tap into ecosystem-led growth you will need to provide dozens or even hundreds of connections. Companies often underestimate just how difficult it is to not only build, but to maintain these integrations on their own.

To successfully extend their ecosystem, SaaS companies must consider how to:

■ Increase integration offerings without adding staff.

■ Deploy and support integrations.

■ Make integrations accessible and easy to use.

■ Set up and maintain a scalable integration infrastructure.

■ Manage tech debt.

■ Decrease integration time-to-market.

Writing code is a fraction of the work required for integrations. Most integration teams spend the bulk of their time building and maintaining infrastructure. As the number of integrations and customers grows, the burden increases, taking valuable resources away from core product development. Companies must anticipate and solve this challenge when crafting their integration strategy.

How to Approach the Integration Challenge

You can take several approaches to managing your software integrations.

■ Build in-house: This approach allows you to maintain complete control over your code, features and production schedule. While this may work for enterprises, most SaaS companies lack the internal resources to scale integration offerings effectively.

■ Task the customer with development: This approach is less than ideal. Many small businesses do not have the expertise to develop integrations and can usually find a competitor that already provides the pre-built connection.

■ Use a third party to build: You can outsource integration development, relieving the burden on internal teams. However, you also must share revenue and give up control over quality and features. Many customers and partners may also object to this approach due to privacy concerns.

■ Adopt enterprise iPaaS: These platforms simplify integration development with low-code design tools and robust SaaS connector libraries. However, enterprise iPaaS (Integration Platform as a Service) solutions are primarily designed for end-users to build connectors between internal systems rather than B2B SaaS companies developing integrations for their customers.

■ Implement an embedded iPaaS: These platforms are designed for B2B companies. They provide native integration capabilities to make the connections feel like part of the platform, allow you to deploy one integration to multiple customers, offer a user-friendly integration marketplace and enable both devs and non-devs.

There are many options when it comes to managing software integrations for B2B SaaS companies. Determining which is best for your organization depends on a number of factors including team resources, customer needs, and integration strategy, among others. Once you've been able to identify what is most important, you will be able to make the right decision for your team and business.

How Businesses Can Grow Their Ecosystem

Software integrations are a foundation for creating maximum value from a B2B SaaS company's ecosystem. Providing extensive customer-critical integrations drives net new sales and improves customer retention while strengthening partnerships and enhancing product value. An embedded iPaaS abstracts the infrastructure so your team can focus on the integrations themselves. The ability to build any integration, deploy it to your customers (or allow them to self-deploy), and then manage those integrations at scale is the core of what an embedded iPaaS provides to B2B SaaS companies.

As a business leader, one of your goals is nurturing a sustainable integration development process to keep pace with your business growth goals and to ensure your teams are equipped with the right tools to take advantage of the opportunities offered by ecosystem-led growth. An embedded iPaaS can help you see that goal to completion.