I just got back from Dreamforce, part software conference, part rock show. I attended several sessions and presented in two. It was one in which one of my customers presented that I got the idea for todays post. It was a Salesforce customer panel talking about their favourite AppExchange apps. Our ELTON product got a nice nod from Kevin Larson of Food & Water Watch (thanks Kevin!). But the theme that really started to come through was that each app was independent and yet so seamlessly integrated that the users were offered a great User Experience.
There has been lots of talk about integration, a whole industry of enterprise integration tools, with the associated enterprise pricing models. But sometime over the past 2-3 years things just started to work together in a way that makes users happy. I know for our app the difference was the API first approach combined with SSO (Single Sign-On). That allowed us and clearly other app builders to integrate so seamlessly that users don’t necessarily know they are moving from one app to another. Finally allowing users to get their work done in a more efficient and friendly way. Nice to see all these apps embracing user experience as way to create value, drive adoption and make users happy.