{"id":1798,"date":"2026-01-16T15:18:14","date_gmt":"2026-01-16T20:18:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog2wrkdev.wpenginepowered.com\/embedded-integration\/"},"modified":"2026-09-18T15:58:19","modified_gmt":"2026-09-18T19:58:19","slug":"embedded-integration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog2workato.wpengine.com\/embedded-integration\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Embedded Integration Platforms Are Essential for SaaS"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

According to a study by Blissfully<\/a>, businesses of all sizes use at least 100 SaaS apps, on average. In addition, the figure is growing rapidly, as organizations have increased the number of apps they use by 30%, year-over-year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This tells us that the more integrations you offer with relevant SaaS apps over time, the better off you\u2019ll be at meeting clients\u2019 and prospects\u2019 evolving needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, how would you go about implementing and offering integrations and automations with your product?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019ll share 3 reasons why investing in an embedded integration platform\u2014or an iPaaS<\/a> that can be embedded into your product\u2014is the best option, both for your clients and your colleagues. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But first, let\u2019s review why the alternative approach to building integrations\u2014building them in-house, or natively\u2014is likely to cause issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\r\n

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How to turn your product into a hub for automations<\/h4>\r\n

We’ll share real-world examples from Tango Card, CyCognito, and Unanet.<\/p>\r\n <\/div>\r\n\t\t\t\t Download whitepaper<\/a>\r\n\t\t\t\t <\/div>\r\n\t\t <\/div>\r\n\n\n\n

The challenges of building integrations natively<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

When analyzing the roadblocks product managers face when building integrations in-house, we found that they ran into the following hurdles most often:<\/p>\n\n\n

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Source: Analysis on 200 product managers; data was collected from February 1st, 2021 through October 15th, 2021<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Let\u2019s take a closer look at the 3 most prevalent issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Volume of requests<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The process of building out and maintaining 1 or 2 natively-built connections might work out OK, especially if the integrations are narrow in scope. However, this scenario isn\u2019t likely to come to fruition. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead, your team will likely face a plethora of integrations that need to be implemented. Your customer success managers might identify specific ones that can help prevent customer churn; your sales reps might identify others that are required to win deals. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And, based on the applications you already integrate with, your clients might ask that you build complementary or competing applications (assuming the client doesn\u2019t use the application you connect to).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Taken together, these requests are likely to overwhelm your small team of engineers and are likely to create integration backlogs that frustrate everyone involved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Engineering resources\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

As your engineers look to build each application\u2019s API, they\u2019re forced to go through a host of activities that fall under discovery, planning, and build. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moreover, when you expand this scope of work to the dozens, if not hundreds, of integrations they need to connect to, it quickly becomes clear that this work will keep them busy.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In other words, they won\u2019t have enough time to work on the projects that they\u2019re uniquely positioned to perform. This includes any initiatives that focus on your core product, from releasing new features to addressing bugs.<\/p>\n\n\n

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3. Time to market<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

With your engineers bogged down by the complexity of building to APIs, they almost certainly won\u2019t be able to bring integrations to market as quickly as your clients and prospects would like. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This can lead to all kinds of adverse outcomes\u2014from losing a potential deal to causing friction in client relationships to preventing upsell\/cross-sell deals from taking place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Related: What product managers should know about implementing integrations<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Benefits of using embedded integrations<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Embedded integrations can address all of the issues above\u2014and much more. Let\u2019s cover their top benefits in detail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Empower your team to focus on tasks that they\u2019re uniquely equipped to solve<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

An embedded integration platform (also referred to as an embedded iPaaS) offers a low-code\/no-code UX. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This allows non-technical employees at your organization and at your clients\u2019 businesses to connect apps and implement automations easily, quickly, and independently\u2014all but ensuring that integration backlogs are trimmed down, if not eliminated altogether.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition, allowing non-technical builders to implement integrations and automations frees up your dev team. The latter will be able to focus on tasks that they\u2019re uniquely equipped to handle\u2014namely, building out or refining product features that can help your platform stand out in the market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Accelerate your clients’ time-to-market with pre-built connectors and automations<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Using an embedded integration platform, your clients can easily find the apps they want to connect to (via pre-built connectors), sync them with yours, and then build automations that work across them (via pre-built automations)\u2014all in minutes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They would simply follow some version of these 3 steps:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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  1. They\u2019d browse through the apps they want to connect with in your app marketplace.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n
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    A view of Procore\u2019s App Marketplace, powered by Workato\u2019s Embedded Platform<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
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    1. Once they find the right app, they\u2019d go through an authentication step, which involves having them log into the app with their credentials.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n
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      1. Once the app is authenticated, they can use an automation you\u2019ve already built with that app; or, depending on the approach you\u2019d like to take, they can build an entirely new automation.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\r\n
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        Ready to implement product integrations at scale?<\/h4>\r\n

        Learn how Workato’s modern embedded iPaaS lets you build integrations to your product in a matter of minutes.<\/p>\r\n <\/div>\r\n\t\t\t\t Learn more<\/a>\r\n\t\t\t\t <\/div>\r\n\t\t <\/div>\r\n\n\n\n

        3. Provide a cohesive brand experience that\u2019s likely to spur further adoption<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

        An embedded iPaaS<\/a> offers clients the same brand experience they\u2019ve come to recognize and love\u2014which can go a long way in making them more comfortable with implementing integrations and automations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        Here are two approaches you can take when incorporating an embedded iPaaS into your UI (the one you choose depends on how you\u2019d want your clients to build integrations and automations):<\/p>\n\n\n\n