Client: MuleSoft

MuleSoft is the Web Middleware Company, providing enterprise-class software based on the world's most popular open source application infrastructure products, Mule ESB and Apache Tomcat.

The open source Mule project was founded in 2003 by Ross Mason, CTO of MuleSoft. Frustrated by integration "donkey work," Ross set out to create a new platform that emphasized ease of development, flexibility, and re-use of components. He created the Mule ESB to bring a modern approach, one of assembly, rather than repetitive coding, to developers worldwide. Today, Mule ESB is the world's most widely used open source ESB, with more than 1.5 million downloads and over 2,500 production deployments.

MuleSoft has since taken the principles of lightweight and pragmatic infrastructure software to yet another level with iBeans and Tcat Server. Tcat Server is enterprise Tomcat made simple — a fully supported Tomcat server that simplifies management, tomcat configuration and application, provisioning tasks for Tomcat developers and administrators. iBeans is an open source technology that works seamlessly with Tcat Server and Apache Tomcat , enabling developers to integrate their Web applications with data sources and external services (e.g., Web Services, RSS feeds, REST interfaces, AJAX events, message queues/JMS, etc.) with a few simple annotations.

With its Web Middleware products, including Mule ESB, Tcat Server and iBeans, MuleSoft brings an ideal combination of simplicity and power to today's web applications.

Echo Lane provided fast, high-quality service and creative solutions that addressed MuleSoft's critical business issues.

Chris Purpura
VP of Corporate and Business Development, MuleSoft

Challenge

In late 2009, MuleSoft went through a significant business transformation. Its growth from a single product and single sales model to multiple products, with multiple sales models and channels, placed new demands on its SFA and Support applications. For sales process, the company needed to streamline internal sales methodology and introduce process automation around partner management. For support, it needed to redesign its customer portal, support processes across multiple products, and develop mechanisms for partners in the support model.

MuleSoft operates on "startup time" and this project was no exception. The solution needed to be delivered in less than six weeks, to accommodate a scheduled upgrade of the company's marketing automation infrastructure, as well as the on-boarding of an incoming class of new account executives.

Solution

MuleSoft relied on Echo Lane's best practices and technical expertise to optimize existing processes and implement new partner and customer management frameworks within the Force.com framework. The company collaborated with Echo Lane, using a scrum development approach that entailed daily iteration between the business user and the Echo Lane consultant, to enable speedy solution delivery.

"We had a very good idea of how we wanted to run our business", said Chris Purpura, VP of Corporate and Business Development at MuleSoft, "but we needed both expertise and best practice advice on how to implement those ideas in Salesforce.com. Echo Lane not only provided that expertise but was able to literally build the new system in front of our eyes, iterating it with us in real-time on a daily basis."

Echo Lane provided MuleSoft with Salesforce.com customizations that included sales force automation, support services, and a customer partner portal.

Echo Lane configured and deployed a Partner Relationship Management (PRM) module and a Products module for MuleSoft, empowering partners to manage their own customers and act as Level I support for their accounts. The PRM module distributes sales leads generated by MuleSoft to MuleSoft partners, and content management is leveraged to deliver timely marketing and operational content to MuleSoft partners. Salesforce Ideas allows partners to connect and participate in growing MuleSoft's partner community. This functionality will be rolled out to European partners as early as March 2010.

Using scrum development in a highly collaborative environment ensured that the project's changing requirements were met accurately and reflected MuleSoft's needs.

"It was possible to deliver the project in half of the budget and half of the timeline, in comparison to what it would take in a traditional waterfall or even an agile approach," said Echo Lane consultant Dmitri Novomeiski. "Echo Lane revised MuleSoft's core salesforce.com architecture to ensure that MuleSoft's system and business processes follow best practices to support the company's quick growth from a single to a multi-product organization and to enable it to support robust sales, partner and customer management processes."

Results
  • The SFDC Module provides the infrastructure and automated processes MuleSoft needs to support its growing business.
  • Salesforce automation and marketing automation enables MuleSoft to track marketing campaigns from initial contacts to post-sale by user, campaign and response.
  • The accurate return-on-investment (ROI) results provided by Salesforce automation and marketing automation will help MuleSoft customize its sales and marketing budget in the future.
  • A new partner portal enhances MuleSoft's communication with its partners.
  • Partner Relationship Management (PRM) and Products module empowers partners to manage their own customers and act as Level I support for their accounts.