2 min

Unit4 announces an upcoming, proprietary Integration Platform as a Service (iPaaS). The so-called Industry Mesh will be available from early January 2022 to connect Unit4’s ERPx and widely used third-party applications through ready-to-use integrations.

The news comes a few months after Unit4’s introduction of ERPx. The solution entails a relatively new SaaS. Unit4 bundles existing ERP, HR and financial software into a single cloud service and tailors functionality to the profile of a customer’s organization.

Capabilities for connecting data from external systems — and vice versa — are at the heart of ERPx. In this light, the announcement of the new Industry Mesh should come as no surprise. Starting in January 2022, Unit4 introduces a series of ready-to-use connectors for connecting data in ERPx and commonly used third-party solutions. Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics, Slack, Microsoft Teams, Jura and Outlook are examples.

Not an introduction, but an improvement

The added value differs per linked application. As an example, Unit4 mentions the connection of ERPx and Salesforce or Microsoft Dynamics (CRM systems, ed.). Account managers working in Salesforce or Dynamics can consult a customer’s invoice history in ERPx’s to communicate with the customer more effectively.

For most ERPx customers, such a use case is nothing new. Connections are already being made. Industry Mesh is not an introduction to the benefits of integration: Industry Mesh is about taking the burden off the current, time-consuming and sometimes error-prone process. Unit4 will create and maintain connections. A service of integrations, known in practice as iPaaS.

The organization states that Industry Mesh will become available on a subscription basis. A spokesperson mentions a ‘premium package’ and ‘industry-specific packages’. The packages will likely consist of multiple prepared connectors for multiple industry-specific applications.

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