Leveraging an embedded platform to provide product integrations at scale can help any organization elevate its platform’s value.
Reltio, a master data management solution, utilizes embedded integrations to help clients gather and store data from various sources in their platform, as well as enrich that data via 3rd-party tools.
Qstream, an enterprise microlearning app, uses embedded integrations to help clients kickstart an assessment as soon as a student or employee finishes an online course.
CafeX Communications, a business collaboration solutions provider, leverages embedded integrations to streamline critical processes, like incident management, and others typically provided by a service desk.
While an embedded platform is clearly valuable in various contexts, the process of taking the platform to market is nuanced. You’ll need to decide how you price your product integrations; you’ll need to ideate and execute marketing activities that help spur awareness and adoption of your integrations; and you’ll need to engage in internal enablement initiatives that allow your customer-facing teams to communicate and sell your integrations effectively.
We’ll help you navigate these areas by breaking down the go-to-market strategies that the companies above used with Workato’s Embedded Platform.
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These insights came from the Automate session, “Product leaders tell all: Proven strategies for taking Workato to market with your customers.” Catch everything that was shared by watching the session’s recording.
Enabling clients to implement integrations at no additional cost
Reltio and CafeX Communications had some overlap in their go-to-market strategies. Both chose Workato’s embedded automation customization approach, where clients can implement integrations and automations themselves within the platform. Moreover, they decided to offer their embedded integrations at no additional cost with a base subscription*. This lets both companies not only strengthen their products relative to others in the market but also improve client retention.
*CafeX Communications allows clients to access a certain number of connectors at no additional cost, but will charge more once a certain threshold is exceeded.
Ayan Basu, a Senior Director of Product at Reltio, further explains why they decided to avoid monetizing their integrations:
A key distinction between the two companies’ approaches, however, lies in their marketing and enablement efforts.
Ali Shadman, the Chief Strategy Officer at CafeX Communications, explained that their team did minimal marketing and relied mostly on word of mouth. Internal enablement was equally simple:
Basu and his team at Reltio took a more hands-on approach to marketing and enablement. They share information and answer questions on using the “Reltio Integration Hub” with their community of users, they host webinars that break down each step of building automations, and they promote the platform via social channels, like Linkedin. Basu went on to explain that these efforts would, over time, allow them to “build a fanbase around this (the Reltio Integration Hub).”
Related: What you need to know about an embedded iPaaS
Adopting a managed service approach with plans for customer involvement
Bret Kramer, the VP of Sales and Customer Success at QStream, shared that his team decided to take a managed service approach with their embedded platform (“Qstream Connect”).
Their team consults with clients on the scenarios that make sense for using Qstream Connect. Once they’ve landed on the use cases, Qstream’s integration team will go on to implement the integrations in Qstream Connect. The team also handles maintenance, so as clients’ integration requirements evolve, the integration team can respond accordingly. Kramer acknowledged that this model will likely evolve as customers become more familiar with Workato, and that he and his team are “looking forward to that development.”
In terms of enabling his customer-facing colleagues to sell Qstream Connect, Kramer explained that he introduced them to the platform and the various use cases it enables; that alone proved to be enough.
Their future plans with Workato
Now that Qstream, Reltio, and CafeX Communications have each seen early success in launching Workato’s Embedded Platform, they’re planning on doubling down in the months to come.
The team at Reltio plans to build more templated automations across applications to help clients ideate and implement additional automations more easily.
The team at CafeX Communications plans on exposing additional AI capabilities inside of their connector so that clients can implement more intelligent automations. And, like Reltio, they plan on building additional templated automations for each of the industries they serve and solutions they offer.
Finally, the team at Qstream is looking to use integrations to tackle more complex and exciting challenges, like connecting with virtual and augmented reality technologies.
Given how thoughtful these companies have been in taking Workato’s Embedded Platform to market, we’re confident that their ambitious, forward-thinking initiatives will prove successful.
