ViiBE.co use case: How do CRM and CMMS companies decide which SaaS solutions to integrate into their IT environments?
When CRM or CMMS solutions want to add new tech integrations into their existing products, they have to consider how interoperable the solutions will be as well as how secure the resulting joint solution will be. Interoperability can be judged based on how seamless the access is between solutions for users, as well as the extent of the results for both the company as a whole as well as for individual users. IT directors must additionally consider how safe something is when making decisions that impact the whole of their tech environment because security breaches are a serious and genuine threat. By using a holistic, yet detailed analysis of the impact and security of potential integrations, companies can reduce risks while maximizing benefits and user adoption.
What kinds of ROI can integrations offer companies?
Companies must consider several metrics when projecting the benefits of a new integration. Measuring the ROI of a new tool needs to take into consideration not only the impact at the company-wide level but also the benefits at the team or individual level. There are several metrics to look at when deciding whether to start or continue using external solutions.
Company-level metrics
- Profit and spending
- Changes in the number of resources or personnel required
- Level of security and resistance to cyberattacks
- Overall customer satisfaction scores
- Customer retention rate
- CO2 emissions
Individual metrics
- Productivity/number of work orders completed
- Number of trips to worksites
- Worksite injuries
- Number of calls to complete missions
- User adoption / repeat usage
Analyzing the value and satisfaction from using specific tools is important to test and measure on a small scale in order to judge what the value or impact would be in using specific technology at scale. This phase of understanding how a solution impacts ROI is important so that companies don’t waste time or money, and don’t make processes more complicated than necessary.
Why is cybersecurity a top concern for new integrations?
In 2020, the primary cause of data breaches was reported to be intentional theft or sabotage by external parties, while 43% of C-Suite business leaders who reported a data breach cited human error as the second major cause. Then, in 2021, companies reported that 61% of their security breaches resulted from stolen user credentials.
Following the Covid-19 pandemic and the resulting rise in remote work, cybersecurity has taken on new challenges and considerations. In fact, the average cost of security breaches was $1.07 million higher when remote work was present during the breach, as opposed to cases where remote work was not involved.
In addition to remote work security, IT directors often consider cloud storage and third-party applications to be some of the main parts of an IT system to monitor closely for attacks. Yet, the market for team collaboration tools is projected to increase by a CAGR of 18% over the period 2021–2026. More tools mean more opportunities for cybersecurity attacks, which is why security needs to be one of the main requirements that companies look into when integrating new tools. Selecting integrations with strong security measures could be the difference between a successful or failed attempt to steal employee and customer data.
What does a secure SaaS solution look like?
While many data breaches come from user error, SaaS solutions can help provide extra layers of security, particularly since they have access to a range of private and corporate information including sensitive personal data and financial information. Some solutions use data encryption to prevent data from leaking both when it is stored in the cloud as well as when it’s being transmitted to users. Some countries also require companies to ensure a certain level of data protection, such as the GDPR regulation in EU countries.
As a concrete example, the Paris-based visual support solution, ViiBE is a cloud-hosted, GDPR-compliant solution that protects client data thanks to the individual, containerized entities it creates for each client. The company indicates that these containers have passed penetration tests to guarantee that they are watertight from other clients’ subdomains.
What kind of data is shared between solutions?
New integrations mean new opportunities for data analysis on both ends, which can be of great benefit to companies and users, alike. However, sharing data between solutions also requires companies to consider how much and what kind of data to share.
Oftentimes, companies integrate new tools in order to improve processes by making certain workflows or requirements more efficient or impactful. When external solutions promise results such as faster completion of missions, happier employees, safer communications, or higher profits, it is important for the companies to share data, so they can measure the accuracy of these goals. For this, companies may provide access to performance data on dashboards or employee and customer feedback in surveys, so that it can be analyzed and strategies can be adjusted accordingly.
Additionally, companies may share personnel access information based on two kinds of directories: internal HR directories, and external service provider directories. These are useful as they allow companies to enable single sign-on (SSO) capabilities for their employees so that signing in twice isn’t required when using integrated tools. This is an essential IT setup for companies so that employees can work smoothly without constantly facing access barriers to every system they use, which would significantly slow them down and lower their productivity.
However, the potential danger of SSO is that if the external integration is not completely secure, and is then given access to personal and access information for both internal and external users at a company, then there is a huge risk for data leaks and cyberattacks. By choosing technologies that are both productive and secure, companies can be sure that employees will gain all the benefits without needing to worry about potential consequences.
How have major companies successfully integrated external technologies into their existing systems?
Companies around the world are constantly seeing positive results with the external solutions they have decided to integrate into their own. The rise and popularity of the software as a service (SaaS) marketplace model is a testament to how successful and profitable it is for companies to expand the integrations available for use in their platforms. Most major CRM and CMMS software, like Zendesk, Salesforce, and Microsoft Dynamics, have developed their own unique marketplaces with hundreds of third-party applications available to integrate directly into their solutions.
SaaS marketplaces are an easy way to offer external integrations to customers. However, some companies also form dedicated partnerships with external partners to offer and promote a new solution to new and existing customers.
ViiBE visual support integrated with IBM Maximo: a unique partnership for industrial remote maintenance
For example, this is what we are seeing with the recent announcement from IBM that they are including the visual support solution, ViiBE, in their offer to respond to the operational consequences of the pandemic. Specifically, IBM and ViiBE just announced their technological partnership to improve remote support between technicians and experts. This combined tech solution allows technicians to monitor assets that need maintenance with IBM Maximo, and then use ViiBE video calls to contact experts for specific machines when they require assistance. Rather than taking the time to travel to the site, an appropriate expert for the specific asset will join the call in seconds in order to guide the technician through the diagnosis and problem resolution.
Strong interoperability between the European leader in visual support and the world leader in CMMS
On ViiBE’s side, it has always been a part of their roadmap to seamlessly integrate their solutions into any of their clients’ IT ecosystems. This strategy is emphasized by the recent IBM MAS (Maximo Application Suite) offer. IBM’s strategy has similarly been to continue and expand their work with and integration of new external technologies into their platform.
Both companies have reported a significant increase in the number of customers that have requested new integrations with their solutions in the wake of the impacts due to the pandemic.
Following the integration of these solutions, customers have reported several benefits including reduced machine downtime, enhanced operator worksite safety, and decreased CO2 emissions thanks to reduced travels between worksites. The companies expect these benefits to multiply as their joint offer expands in use across the IBM Maximo community.
Charles Demée (left), and Marc Prempain (right) co-founders of ViiBE
An agile solution that will simplify work orders and empower operator self-service
The field technicians that use ViiBE and Maximo’s combined solution are able to get in contact with any expert they need in order to solve complex problems. The routing tool integrated directly in Maximo’s asset management system, uses expertise categories based on internal categories of skills or machines that could cause problems, so it can help the technician connect with the correct expert. The call is routed in one click and after a few seconds, the expert and the technician enter a video call in real-time. In the call interface, all parties have access to a set of features that enhance remote collaboration such as screen sharing, augmented reality tools, live annotations, document transfer, and more. With so many tools available, the experts can oversee the diagnosis of the issue and lead the operator through the steps to fix the problem.
Each case stores all documents, photos, messages, and video call interactions associated with the work order. Organizing and storing this information creates an archive of internal knowledge that other technicians can access at any point to see if the problem they are facing has already been resolved in the past. By referencing past maintenance support interactions, technicians can learn new best practices and help themselves fix any problem they encounter. Then, combining this technology partnership with the intelligence from IBM Watson, ViiBE’s archives will promote operator self-service as more and more information is stored.
How does this integration show best practices for other companies?
This example highlights the concrete benefits and ROI for both companies as well as for individual employees who can work more efficiently but also with greater safety considerations. As a result, this seamless integration offers a way to optimize maintenance operations, enhance knowledge management, and support employees, which is why IBM decided to not only integrate the solution but also develop a joint technology offer with the SaaS solution.
Conclusion
Taking the time to consider the ROI and security of external solutions is worthwhile before choosing which technologies to integrate. While this may require some patience and testing, it will save significant time, money, and energy as productivity will improve and cybersecurity attacks will be less of a problem. External integrations are incredibly useful to simplify the daily work routines of employees and make operations more productive. Simply choosing not to integrate external solutions for the sake of cybersecurity will only result in less innovative companies that lack new, beneficial tools.
