Salesforce Meetup and the DataDirect-Lightning Connect Partnership

Progress DataDirect Cloud reduces the coding work associated with connecting Lightning Connect to external systems.  

I love active and engaged user communities! Earlier this week, I had the opportunity to participate in the San Diego Salesforce User Group meetup. The room was filled to capacity and the level of excitement surrounding Salesforce1 Lightning was palpable.

Lightning Developer Week Adds to the Excitement

The event, organized by Vivek Chawla and hosted by our friends at Intuit, was part of Lightning Developer Week. It provided an opportunity to explore the four aspects of Lightning: Lightning App Builder, Lightning Component Framework, Lightning Process Builder and my personal favorite, Lightning Connect. In addition to demos and a hands-on workshop, we also had the pleasure of hearing Jeff Douglas speak about some of his experiences developing data driven business applications with Lightning.

Data Integration Challenges with Back Office Systems

I discussed the challenges of data integration between Salesforce and back office systems with several attendees. We talked about how Progress® DataDirect Cloud™ can alleviate much of the coding work traditionally handled in Apex or external systems.

The first technology is our Progress® DataDirect® ODBC and JDBC drivers for Salesforce. These drivers provide users the ability to execute standard SQL to interact with Salesforce data. You leverage your favorite BI, or reporting software or data integration tool via a standard ODBC or JDBC connection. Our driver “translates” the query into equivalent API calls to interact with Salesforce.

The second technology uses the industry standard OData as a “universal translator” to interface between your back office systems and Salesforce Lightning Connect. With the dynamic duo of Lightning Connect and DataDirect Cloud, you can bring back office data—from from Siebel, Microsoft SQL Server or Oracle, for example—into the Salesforce user experience without writing a single line of code.  In less than a day, your Salesforce users can access real-time information from your on-premise data.

Don’t Miss Out on Your Own Local Salesforce User Meetups

Whether you are a Salesforce Administrator or Salesforce Developer, I strongly encourage you to attend a local user group event. It’s a great opportunity to meet your fellow Salesforce users, share some war stories and learn how you can make life easier for your users!

For More Information

Watch a Progress DataDirect demo for Lightning Connect or download a free trial now.