Today Salesforce is launching Salesforce1 Lightning Connect, the fastest and easiest way to integrate with data stored in legacy enterprise back-office systems.
Let me put this in context: today’s announcement is a significant step forward on its new strategic path. In my last article on Dreamforce in Review, I wrote about significant developments in Salesforce’s corporate direction with its revolutionary introductions of Salesforce Wave and Lightning. Wave provides easy-as-possible analytics for all users in an organization (Salesforce.com is no longer just online sales data for sales people), while Lightning is a way for every employee in an organization to be able to build mobile apps at lightning speed (as opposed to this being an exclusive for IT developers).
Today’s announcement is about technical developments for data integration. Data integration is a prerequisite to realize insightful business analytics. So, Lightning Connect is a major move in the big picture strategy of Salesforce and it comes in response to existing demand. The need to connect legacy data to Salesforce has grown as customers use an increasing number of external data sources in the Salesforce ecosystem.
“Now customers can extend all the benefits of the Salesforce1 Platform to all of their enterprise data—whether it’s stored in Salesforce or another system.” said Mike Rosenbaum, EVP and GM Salesforce1 Platform, Salesforce.
How is Lightning Connect Revolutionary?
~ Connecting, not Copying Data ~
Lightning Connect will change the way companies access and connect with data stored in legacy systems.
- Lightning Connect can bring legacy data come to life. Unlike other integration tools, it can be configured in minutes with point-and-click tools.
- Real-time. All data’s all up-to-date, as it does not copy nor store outdated data in Salesforce.