Data integration vendor Scribe Software Corp. has completely revamped its look and feel while extending application program interface support in a bid to make its service more approachable to non-technical businesspeople.

Scribe Online is an integration platform-as-a-service that can be used to plug together features and functions from multiple software applications running both in the cloud and on premise, a capability made popular by consumer-grade services such as that offered by IFTTT Inc. Scribe says its connector and API approach can cut the integration process by up to 80 percent compared with hand-coding.

The new release, which was written entirely in HTML5, includes numerous layout and in-app assistance enhancements aimed at making the software easier for both business analysts and developers to use, according to the company. It builds on recent additions to Scribe Online’s REST API, a method of designing networked applications, that make it customizable by software-as-a-service providers, system integrators and enterprise developers. The API can be used to provision, configure and run integrations programmatically, the company said.

One customer’s story

LyntonWeb’s Dan Lynton: First automated integration effort was a “nightmare.”

One such developer is LyntonWeb, a specialty integration vendor that works with HubSpot Inc.’s marketing automation platform, among others. The company’s integration practice was outgrowing its ability to hand-code projects like integrating e-commerce records with marketing databases for email campaigns.

The company initially tried to apply software from Pervasive Software Inc. to the task, but the process was so fraught with problems that “we almost left the integration business,” said Daniel Lynton (right), founder and chief executive of LyntonWeb. “You’d think that a simple operation like integrating with HubSpot’s APIs wouldn’t take a year,” he said. “It was a nightmare.”

In contrast, Scribe was able to integrate smoothly with a constantly expanding set of HubSpot APIs in less than 30 days. “Scribe’s user interface is extremely friendly for a technical end-user and even for a non-technical end user,” Lynton said. “You can get started and build a complete custom integration without going through extensive training. We can make it do whatever we want. It doesn’t feel like black box software, even though it is a black box.”

Adopting Scribe has enabled LyntonWeb to offer customers self-service integration building upon pre-designed templates. “Scribe provides huge potential for embedded integration,” Lynton said. “The licensing model was very easy to get started with.”

Scribe provides built-in application connectors and templates for several dozen popular cloud and on-premises applications, including customer relationship management applications from Salesforce.com Inc., Microsoft and SugarCRM Inc., as well as financial applications from SAP SE, Microsoft and NetSuite Inc. A management console (above) provides constant updates on the health of all running integrations.

Pricing starts at $279 per month, billed annually, for two connections. The company publishes pricing information here.

Image courtesy of Scribe Software