Appirio eases on-demand integration

Appirio's tools are designed to work with applications from partner firms Google and Salesforce

Appirio, a firm that aims to help enterprises get the most out of their software-as-a-service applications, has released a new product to improve workers' use of disparate on-demand services.

The firm announced its new synchronisation tools at the Office 2.0 conference, claiming that they could help workers in all areas of an enterprise improve their use of on-demand applications.

The tools are designed to work with applications from Appirio partner firms Google and Salesforce.com.

Appirio Personal Sync for Salesforce and Google is a free product that lets workers selectively add information from one application to the other, making sure that critical business information is replicated across both platforms.

For example, emails or contact and diary information from Google's free Gmail service can be fed automatically through to a Salesforce.com CRM system.

Appirio said that its release would solve the problems inherent in using these disparate systems, and make it much easier for sales teams to do their job in an efficient way.

This means that workers will be able to select precisely the information they need to do their jobs, without having to involve the IT department in lengthy and laborious integration work.

Where firms are subscribing to the Google Apps business applications package Appirio offers tighter integration with its Premium Contact and Calendar Sync.

Unlike the Personal release this allows for centralised administration and provides enterprise-level support services.

"Cloud computing has had a profound impact on the way individuals work and the way businesses run, but we have only just scratched the surface," said Chris Barbin, chief executive at Appirio.

"Appirio will continue to deliver products and services that break down the barriers to large-scale on-demand adoption.

"At one end of the spectrum we're mobilising individuals by giving them tools to connect the different on-demand solutions they rely on to get their job done.

"On the other end of the spectrum we're helping executives to 'think bigger' about the power of cloud computing and what it can bring to their company."