At Exalate, we’re serious about two things: building powerful integrations and having a great time while doing it. Following our legendary five-day Istanbul adventure last October (where we famously danced the Macarena on a Bosphorus cruise!) we traded Turkey’s vibrant spices for the wilds of the Belgian Ardennes.
With 27 of us coming together from all over the world—from Nigeria to Ukraine, Greece to the UK—we packed our bags (and helmets) and headed into the wilderness for a few days of fun, challenges, and unexpected surprises.
Little did anyone know what was in store as we arrived at the Wild Trails basecamp…
Adventure Menu: Something for Everyone
Our activities read like an adventure restaurant’s tasting menu, where everyone found their flavor of fun:
Giant Volleyball: Where height differences suddenly became very relevant
Katapult & Tangram: Build, Aim, Fire! Or… maybe the other way around
The Fire Brigade: Putting out fires—Exalate style
Rafting: Where syncing really matters
Ziplining and Via Ferrata: Taking our team collaboration to new heights
GPS Dropping: What could possibly go wrong?
Laser Tag: The only time it’s acceptable to target your CEO
Day 1: From Screens to Screams
We were suited up for some intense team activities within hours of arriving. The giant volleyball game kicked things off. Picture this—teams of various heights and styles squaring off with a huge volleyball, causing chaos of mismatched reaches and heroic dives. And then there was Ugo, our multi-talented technical writer, towering above the crowd and claiming the title of volleyball hero! We cheered him on as he stood tall—literally and figuratively—against the odds.
Next up, we split into teams to build catapults out of random materials— no instructions provided. It was all trial and error as we pieced together our medieval masterpieces.
We then geared up for a childhood dream come true: becoming firefighters for the day. With helmets, hoses, and pumps, we had to tackle mock fires under high pressure (literally). This wasn’t just a drill—it was a full-on firefighting exercise with real gear. But we did it with flair—and only a few soaked shoes.
Next up was rafting, a real test of whether we live up to our motto, “We Are in Sync.” Some boats quickly found their rhythm, while others, let’s just say, paddled to their own beat. Rafting is always a blast, but adding the challenge of scooping up tennis balls adds a whole new level of chaos. Lots of laughs, and maybe a strategic “accidental” splash or two.
After an action-packed morning, we gathered under the warm sun for lunch and soaked up the good vibes.
The final highlight of the day? Conquering the Via Ferrata, Belgium’s largest. The climb was one for the books—some of us scaled the cliffs like mountain goats, while others (let’s be honest) may have spent a bit more time “enjoying the view.” But we all made it to the top, and that’s what matters.
After a day of adventure, we moved indoors for an evening of fun. Lots of cheers, questionable jokes, and unique dance moves—our team spirit was at an all-time high!
Day 2: Navigating the Unknown and the Great Management Hunt
We kicked off the day blindfolded, whisked away to a mystery location, and armed with GPS devices to find our way back. What could possibly go wrong?
With only each other and a dash of intuition, we stumbled through the forest, navigating by trust and a few wild guesses. And let’s be real, some groups were better at this than others, but no one got too lost, so we’ll call it a win.
Our final challenge was a fast-paced laser shooting game. While some ran for the kill, others strategically hid and hit. Whether as hunter or prey, we were a team at the end of the day. And let’s just say some of us have a future in strategic retreat.
As one teammate put it, “It was fun to shoot at Bruno and Ruben!” (Our product and sales managers—no comment).
In Sync, Across Borders
At Exalate, we believe that greatness comes from being in sync—not only with our work but also with each other. From overcoming height fears to reliving the day’s adventures around the campfire, we made sure to soak it all in. After all, we’re not just building an amazing product—we’re building a team that’s in it for the long haul.
I couldn’t be prouder of how we come together, both at work and out here in the wild. The energy, the trust, and the shared sense of purpose—that’s what sets Exalate apart.
-Hilde, Exalate’s co-founder
This is just the first chapter of our team-building 2024 adventures! With a globally distributed team, we’re excited to bring more experiences like this to other parts of the world.
Spoiler alert: Our next adventure is taking us to Barcelona- stay tuned for more stories.
Credits Are Due
Special thanks to our event mastermind, Sherene, who somehow managed to coordinate it all without once losing her cool. And to our co-founders Francis and Hilde, who proved that leadership isn’t just about vision—it’s about being willing to join the fun, even when that means becoming moving targets.
From cozy campfire moments to conquering new heights, dance-offs, and plenty of fun memories to last until next time: Operation Ardennes: Mission Accomplished
Our partner network has now topped 200 partners! This growth reflects a 24% increase in partner sales, showing just how much value our solutions bring to businesses everywhere. But it’s not just about the numbers—there are real stories behind this success – stories of businesses facing challenges, discovering new possibilities, and achieving success together. It’s all about building those meaningful connections!
In our commitment to innovation, we’ve launched our AI Assist feature for Script Mode, which cuts setup times by over 50%! This advancement streamlines complex integrations, improving speed, efficiency, and reliability for our users.
Plus, our Partner Program just got even better!
Exalate’s Partner Program has always been a cornerstone of our global strategy. After evaluating and refining the program in 2023, we relaunched it in January 2024 with a set of impactful updates. These include a new Partner Agreement, refreshed partner levels, and badges, a streamlined sales deal registration process, and enhanced support for the APAC and EMEA regions. We’re now bolstering our Partner Management Team with dedicated support for these regions, ensuring our partners receive the attention and resources they need to succeed.
At its core, the success of the program lies in strong, lasting partnerships. By aligning our goals and understanding the unique needs of each partner, we’ve been able to integrate Exalate seamlessly into their offerings, leading to increased engagement and growth across various industries.
With up to 25% discounts, free certifications, and comprehensive sales, marketing, and support services, the program is designed to provide unparalleled value to both partners and customers.
The growing network brings many benefits, including enhanced brand awareness, robust product support, access to training resources, joint sales efforts, and dedicated Exalate team support every step of the way.
A huge shoutout to our awesome team and partners for their hard work and passion! Together, we’re building solutions that help businesses work better together, no matter their size.
Let’s keep pushing forward and growing!
Read the full news here or learn more about our Partner Program here.
Cybersecurity integration has never been this important, especially considering the nature of sophisticated cyber threats. Enterprises need robust protection against them.
Managed Security Service Providers (MSSPs) can be your vital allies in this ongoing battle, offering a comprehensive suite of security services to safeguard digital assets and mitigate risks effectively.
But how do they ensure their services continuously improve and remain top-class? Making integration an integral part of their service offering can help increase customer satisfaction and improve average resolution times.
This blog post discusses the importance of integration in the context of cybersecurity and how MSSPs can use integration solutions to gain a competitive advantage.
The Current Cybersecurity Landscape for MSSPs
Cybersecurity has become an ever-pressing concern for enterprises of all shapes, sectors, and sizes.
From breaching your private data to holding you up to ransomware demands, cyber-attacks are getting bigger and better. Additionally, cyber threats and risks are multi-faceted and ever-present, especially considering the complex nature of the current IT systems.
Considering this outlook, Managed Security Service Providers (MSSPs) can prove to be useful business allies to safeguard your digital assets and mitigate cybersecurity threats effectively.
MSSPs offer a comprehensive suite of security services, ranging from threat detection and incident response to vulnerability management and compliance assistance.
MSSPs also use advanced technologies like AI, ML, and threat intel to spot suspicious activities and possible breaches quickly. They also provide 24/7 monitoring and expert advice, helping clients follow GDPR and HIPAA compliances. Their role is crucial in keeping digital assets secure and protecting organizations globally as cyber risks grow.
What is Cybersecurity Integration for MSSPs?
Organizations planning to adopt digital transformation & innovation often see security and compliance as a slowing-down effect for their quick ambitions. Hence, it’s a good idea for such organizations to offload security hassles to experts like MSSPs.
However, within their range of responsibilities, MSSPs often see organizations using various point security solutions or siloed applications, disconnected from one another.
To help MSSPs do their jobs better, it’s important to first understand the concept of cybersecurity integration.
Cybersecurity integration is the process of incorporating various security tools, techniques, and practices into the services offered by MSSPs. This integration aims to create a cohesive and comprehensive security solution tailored to the needs of each of their clients.
Key aspects of cybersecurity integration for MSSPs include:
Technology integration: MSSPs integrate a range of cybersecurity technologies like firewalls, endpoint protection, intrusion detection systems (IDS), security information and event management (SIEM) solutions, and encryption tools. This also includes integrating physical and logical entities, e.g. IoTs, smart homes, medical devices, etc.
Threat intelligence integration: MSSPs leverage threat intelligence feeds from various sources to stay updated on the latest cybersecurity threats and trends. By integrating threat intelligence into their services, they can proactively identify and mitigate potential security risks before they escalate into full-blown incidents.
Compliance integration: MSSPs help clients achieve and maintain compliance with relevant industry regulations and standards such as GDPR, HIPAA, PCI DSS, and others.
Incident response integration: MSSPs develop and implement incident response plans to address cybersecurity incidents effectively. This integration involves establishing clear protocols for detecting, assessing, and responding to security incidents promptly to minimize the impact on client operations.
To do what they do best, i.e. keeping your security and privacy interests at the forefront, MSSPs need something extra.
Why do MSSPs Need Integration?
As we just discussed, MSSPs take care of your organization’s entire security architecture. Of course, to do so they have their own systems in place.
For instance, an MSSP has its own incident management and response team that tracks all customer incidents in ServiceNow. It raises these security incidents with the customer’s IT or security team via emails, messengers, or tickets.
Good enough? Some might say, it works pretty well.
But with speed becoming the need of the day, we would expect this entire process to be handled automatically and in real-time with due attention given to critical incidents.
Now imagine this.
The MSSP customer’s IT team might be using another tool like Jira or Azure DevOps. When the MSSP detects a critical incident, it is automatically raised in the customer’s Jira with a ‘Blocker’ priority. The IT team immediately starts working with the MSSP and comments, attachments, and other information is shared back and forth, in real-time. The entire incident management process is automated end-to-end, elevating service levels and efficiencies.
Picture the other side. The customer raises an urgent security incident within its own application. The MSSP instantly receives a notification on their service desk in order to initiate a rapid response game plan. Efficiency at its best!
MSSPs need integration to make such an automated workflow possible, where critical data is exchanged instantly and accurately.
The Importance of Integration in the Context of Cybersecurity
An integration implemented in the context of cybersecurity can help MSSPs smoothen their daily operations. It will also eliminate any silos, reduce complexities and manual dependencies.
If cybersecurity integration is implemented in such a way, it can automate routine but critical tasks, optimize workflows, and improve overall operational efficiency. It will also allow the MSSPs to deliver high-quality security services more and cost-effectively.
Having the right processes, people, and solutions in place, especially when it comes to cybersecurity integration is important.
We’ll discuss one such solution called Exalate bridging the gaps in the MSSP space and bringing solace to their services.
It provides real-time, automatic advanced synchronization between various applications like Jira, ServiceNow, Salesforce, Azure DevOps, Zendesk, GitHub, etc.
In addition to this, you can outsource your entire integration to Exalate to handle all the complexities associated with integrating, managing, and monitoring multiple systems.
How MSSPs Use Exalate as Their Competitive Advantage
There are a couple of unique approaches MSSPs can take while using Exalate to their competitive advantage.
Integration as a Service
While delivering security services to customers, if MSSPs include integrations as a part of their service, it can elevate customer trust and satisfaction.
So, if the MSSP uses ServiceNow and the customer uses JSM (Jira Service Management), a pre-built ServiceNow JSM integration as a part of the MSSP service offering can be a wholesome service package, fostering stronger customer onboarding and a way forward for future endeavors.
For customers, it would be a cherry on the top anyway!
Decentralized Integration Set-Up
Exalate is a fully decentralized integration solution. Essentially, it means each MSSP customer will have its own integration environment independent of other customers. This is useful in a cross-company setup where security and data privacy are important.
There’s a dedicated link between the MSSP and the specific customer. Such a sandbox environment for customers also means they control what’s sent out of their system and what comes into their system without the fear of an alien system getting unwarranted access to their data. This setting is also important for a cybersecurity integration scenario.
Scalability and Flexibility
By providing flexible integrations that evolve with changing customer needs, MSSPs can elevate operational efficiencies and customer experience.
Customizations can also be customer-specific, meaning every integration is tweaked to individual customer needs.
At Exalate, we have seen some MSSPs deploy custom integration templates that hold configurations for each customer separately. These templates are then offered to customers as a part of the cybersecurity integration service.
Exalate makes this kind of flexibility possible with its Groovy-based script mode that allows you to implement any integration scenario with minimal hassles.
Scalability for cybersecurity integration-based services is also paramount.
Let’s consider the MSSP example we just discussed. Once an integration template for a customer is ready, it can be easily reused and scaled to other customers.
With Exalate, it is also easier to deploy integrations to newer applications and scale the integration network.
Imagine a hub-and-spoke kind of integration model, where the MSSP system works as a hub and the different customer systems are spokes. This inherent design feature acts as a catalyst for scaling integrations.
Public-Private Connectivity
Often, for security reasons, customer systems might be behind firewalls or VPNs.
It’s necessary for the MSSPs to reach their customers and establish a public-private connection, where the MSSP instance is public and the customer instance is private.
Such a setup would ensure the private instance will poll the public instance for any new updates, or security vulnerabilities, without exposing its entire infrastructure.
Exalate’s strength lies in its ability to allow you to establish two-way communication between instances over a one-way (private) network. This is particularly useful for cybersecurity integration, where network restrictions may hinder direct communication.
Reliability
Despite best efforts, unfortunately, downtimes and system failures are a reality.
In the cybersecurity world, such downtimes need to be managed before they spiral out of control.
Since, many times, financial penalties are incurred for external incidents not handled within SLAs, it’s important to ensure MSSPs choose a robust and reliable tool.
Also, the impact of downtimes on the end customers is critical, even a few hours of delay is not acceptable. So, there’s a need for real-time synchronization at all costs!
Exalate:
has an integrated retry mechanism that allows the systems to automatically restore synchronization from the point of failure.
supports autonomous synchronization queues that help to restart lost sync in the same order of initiation
provides real-time synchronization capabilities.
As we just saw, there are a lot of ways MSSPs can use Exalate as their competitive advantage.
Use Cases for Cybersecurity Integration
How an MSSP Enhanced its Cybersecurity Operations by Automating the Ticket Escalation Process
Quorum Cyber, an MSSP, uses Exalate to provide end customers with information about security events within their ITSM systems and to power their customers’ service desk integration with their Managed Detection and Response service.
In practice, this means the MSSP integrates a number of issue types like incidents, health monitoring, vulnerabilities, custom requests, and so on. These issues are automatically sent to the end customer based on predefined criteria.
Another benefit of using Exalate is the ability to customize the integration to make it work slightly differently per customer, including manipulating the data, when needed.
With Exalate’s managed integration services, Quorum Cyber and its customers do not require their own resources to deal with, build, configure, and maintain the integration, allowing them to focus on tasks that matter the most.
Not only can Quorum Cyber configure its integration with its external customers, but it also successfully connects and collaborates with internal teams. Such a blend of intra-company and cross-company integration allows them to focus on and enhance their cybersecurity integration strategies.
How a Cybersecurity MSP Uses Deep Ticket Integration as a Competitive Advantage
NVISO, a prominent cybersecurity MSP, uses Exalate to synchronize tickets for their clients, bridging the gap between NVISO’s Jira with clients’ ServiceNow systems.
This Jira ServiceNow integration empowers NVISO’s customers to receive security incident updates and manage responses within their own familiar ITSM environments.
NVISO’s integration spans incidents, vulnerabilities, and custom requests, tailoring workflows to individual client needs.
Exalate’s decentralized, flexible model preserves data security and regulatory compliance, crucial for sensitive client data in the EU.
This setup also simplifies NVISO’s network expansion as new clients readily join NVISO’s Exalate-powered ecosystem.
NVISO has increased its operational efficiency, supporting both scalability and continuous customer engagement across diverse IT infrastructures by adopting Exalate.
NVISO’s competitive advantage holds its ground via an integrated security workflow and enhances resilience and partnership in cybersecurity.
The future of cybersecurity integration is bright and evolving. However, due caution must be taken to ensure your cybersecurity planning aligns with and is prepared for newer technologies and vulnerabilities.
The Role of AI in Cybersecurity Integration
AI will play a crucial role in increasing the rise in cybercrime, aiding in both access and the creation of advanced malware. Companies are increasingly falling prey to distinct hacker groups, leading to a surge in cyber threats.
So, it’s important to be aware of and prepared for these eminent threats well in advance.
AI plays an important role in shaping integration solutions like Exalate. AI-assisted integrations help users get faster and more precise integrations without manual intervention. However, in the same breath, companies need to be wary of the potential unknown effects of AI-based outcomes.
Conclusion
As cyber threats mature and evolve, the role of cybersecurity integration for MSSPs becomes even more vital.
Solutions like Exalate offer not just synchronization between applications, but a strategic advantage for MSSPs to deliver high-quality security services efficiently.
With the right integration strategies in place, MSSPs can enhance their capabilities, streamline operations, and stay one step ahead of cyber threats, ensuring a safer digital environment for organizations worldwide. To find out more about these services, get in touch with one of our integration experts.
At Exalate, we believe nothing is out of reach. Achieving what we value the most requires hard work, dedication, resilience through failures, and lots of learning along the way. So, has our journey been successful?
That depends on how you define success. Is it simply numbers on a chart? For us, it’s something deeper—the drive to give back to the community and make a real impact. Have we succeeded in that? Absolutely. But what about the numbers? Fortunately, the answer is a resounding yes there too.
It all began with Francis, our co-founder, who was determined to create products that added value within the Atlassian ecosystem, addressing real-world challenges. His commitment helped shape our vision, making an impact both locally and globally.
Today, Exalate’s growth as an integration app within the Atlassian marketplace speaks for itself. With nearly 5,000 active installs, we stand tall among our competitors.
We’d like to share with you this vision that drives Exalate’s approach to innovation, collaboration, and continuous growth.
Let’s take a closer look at how we arrived here, the numbers that bear witness to our journey, what sets us apart, and the vision that guides us forward.
Our Journey So Far
Exalate began as a solution to a fundamental challenge: finding a way for incompatible systems to talk to one another and making integrations truly flexible and scalable.
It grew to become the top choice for organizations seeking reliable, customizable sync solutions in the Atlassian ecosystem.
Under the guidance of our integration experts, we have consistently focused on flexibility and user empowerment.
This commitment to adaptability has shaped Exalate into a tool that works not just across platforms but across organizations, bridging team gaps and making collaborations truly work.
How do we fair against our competitors?
From the beginning (since 2018), Exalate has led the way, gaining more installs than any competitor in the Atlassian marketplace.
Exalate’s numbers—close to 5,000 active installs—show just how widely our approach resonates.
We continue to see exponential growth within the Atlassian ecosystem, leaving competitors behind as we plan to expand and meet our users’ needs through AI-assisted integrations, centralized connection management, new connectors, and much more. Learn more about our upcoming product initiatives here.
Exalate’s Atlassian Marketplace Share
Since its inception, Exalate has held an impressive 28.9% market share, a figure that not only underscores our popularity but also highlights our robust customer base.
Our tool’s reputation is strengthened by its regular presence in the Atlassian Spotlight.
The Atlassian Marketplace Spotlight program highlights high-quality apps that meet rigorous standards for reliability, customer satisfaction, and consistent performance, giving them greater visibility to users on the Atlassian Marketplace.
The Exalate Difference
Unmatched Flexibility
At Exalate, we boldly state that there’s nothing you cannot sync.
With the growth of template-based or drag-and-drop-driven integration apps in the Atlassian marketplace that claim easy onboarding and setup, there’s also a growing dissatisfaction where users are being limited by what the tool has to offer.
We give such users the freedom to implement deep integrations for any use case that comes to their mind. From syncing multi-level complex Jira issue hierarchies to syncing third-party plugin data from Insights, Tempo, etc., the possibilities are endless.
After all, having the flexibility to sync anything you want isn’t something our users would want to exchange with tools that limit you with their use cases.
Distributed Architecture
Our customers, especially in the cybersecurity domain love us for the discretion we provide by allowing them to keep their integration independent of the other side. By giving Jira admins full control over how data flows between their systems, we enhance the integration security even further.
Integration is a huge endeavor especially if done across multiple companies. In such a scenario, offloading the entire integration setup and maintenance responsibility to a single admin can be dangerous, leading to a high chance of accidental leakage of shared data.
Global Support
We understand that our customers operate around the clock, and hence we’ve built a strong support team that spans all time zones: APAC, EMEA, and the US.
Additionally, we have our solution engineers who work along with the support team.
Whether it’s a quick troubleshooting session or a deeper dive into customization, our team is always ready to help you right from the start. They are consistently praised for their responsiveness and expertise.
It also shows we have what it takes to scale, the required expertise, and specialized support, providing a holistic superior customer experience and better delivery.
Rave Reviews
Customers highlight Exalate’s adaptability, noting how it has transformed their team collaboration.
Here are a few of our best reviews:
Take your time to dive into what’s possible. There’s so much more under the hood that you could do – if you keep it simple and use the defaults, it’s only 5% of what you can do, you could build crazy and cool stuff
MAARTEN CAUTREELSDPG MEDIA
Being programmers, we first looked into writing our own synchronization solution, of course, including using Jira automation and GitHub integration. But it quickly became clear that this would have become a time-consuming and probably an expensive side project. When looking at the solutions on the market, Exalate was the one with the right features and the most comprehensive solution. Even if time and budget had not been an issue, I think we would still have gone for Exalate.
GERWIN KLIEN CHAIR OF THE TECHNICAL STEERING COMMITTEE OF THE FOUNDATION
We can now handle around 500 customer incidents per week, thanks to Exalate, which is a very good result regarding the number of products we’re dealing with. It synchronizes 45x faster than our previous solution. Nowadays our Jira setup is also easier to manage since all the complexity related to the sync is done by Exalate’s powerful scripting capabilities and hence there’s no need for extra add-ons
CHRISTOF CUYPERS GANTNER
It’s definitely about flexibility. The solution is really configurable, and we could configure what we need by following the documentation. If you know what you’re doing, you really can configure all sorts of things with it and get it to work for your specific use case. You can even think outside the box to save money as a result. Actually, we did not know this could be an extra benefit of using the tool in the first place!
PIOTR RADTKESENIOR PROJECT MANAGER AT NETGURU
Our Clients
Social proof speaks volumes. Companies of all sizes, including some of the world’s most recognized brands, rely on Exalate for their integration needs. These partnerships reinforce Exalate’s position as a trusted, high-quality solution for software integration challenges.
NVISO, a Brussels-based cybersecurity firm, used Exalate with their existing systems like Jira and ServiceNow to optimize security incident management and improve communication with customers. This allowed them to maintain workflows, enhance collaboration, and expand their network seamlessly, providing a competitive edge in managing customer security while reducing operational friction.
Netguru used Exalate to connect their DevOps and marketing teams in Jira, achieving a 95% cost reduction for their Service Desk. Exalate’s flexibility allowed Netguru to sync tickets between Jira Software and Jira Service Management and proved essential for handling complex project needs.
Vodafone Germany used Exalate to enhance its operational efficiency by automating cross-company Jira integrations. The solution allowed Vodafone to control vendor-specific data visibility, ensuring synchronization of only relevant information. With over 20,000 synced entries, Exalate became essential in maintaining data consistency across multiple Jira instances.
Our Path Foward: Innovation with AI and Growth
At Exalate, we started testing the waters early to understand how we can use AI to transform the way integrations work.
Our journey started with Aida, our very own documentation assistant, your go-to guide for everything Exalate.
Then we launched AI Assist, the first-ever integration co-pilot, transforming how users approach sync configurations, making the script generation process simpler, faster, and more intuitive.
For those unfamiliar, Exalate’s Script mode is the mind behind its flexibility and ability to support advanced use cases. This mode is based on Groovy-based scripts.
With AI Assist, users can now type their sync requirements in natural language and AI will take care of suggesting the scripts. No more taking short trips for the code snippets to the Exalate documentation or coding it from scratch – if you can think of it, you can sync it!
We’re constantly exploring ways to improve our tool, with new features and enhancements to meet the evolving needs of our users.
We’re dedicated to making Exalate the most flexible, innovative, reliable, and customer-focused solution on the market.
Final Word
Exalate’s growth in the Atlassian Marketplace is no accident—it’s the result of a relentless focus on flexibility, customer satisfaction, and innovation.
As we continue to expand and improve, we’re excited to bring even more users into the Exalate community.
We invite you to join us on this journey and discover firsthand what sets Exalate apart from the rest.
October brings Halloween, filled with ghosts and goblins. In that spirit, we’d like to share what haunts the software integration world and why it can sometimes feel like a nightmare.
So grab some popcorn, dim the lights, and join us as we explore a few terrifying software integration challenges.
Note: This article was a part of our “Integration Nightmares” Halloween campaign but we keep the content regularly updated to ensure it remains relevant and informative.
Software Integration Challenges
When we talk about software integration, companies either opt to build the integration themselves, use native integration technologies their tools support, or choose third-party solutions.
In any case, they need to be aware of software integration challenges that have the potential to turn into full-fledged nightmares.
While we’re at it, let’s also explore some real-world jump scares companies have experienced with the software integration solutions they selected. You’ll find them scattered throughout the blog.
Security: A Dark and Sinister Space
With great integration comes great security! Always.
A weak software integration architecture can expose your sensitive data to threats and risks that you can no longer recover from.
Integration security isn’t merely a checkbox; it’s your protection against data breaches or leaks and your right to data privacy.
Such software integration challenges can only be solved by prioritizing solutions that have all the right security measures in place. Think HTTPS, encryption at rest and in transit, role-based access control, etc.
Some solutions like Exalate have distributed architecture that allows you full control over your side of the integration.
This improves security by limiting the integration scope independently at the endpoints, an ideal situation, especially for cross-company integrations.
Security: Evaluate data protection measures every time!
You’re in the final stages of procurement. A solution claims to have all required security certifications but they are hesitant to provide the proof. And it’s not possible to find the proof online. Total disaster!
Everything is exposed! Everything is required to be mapped (like issue types, fields, statuses, comments, and attachments) and it’s impossible to opt out of sending some of the data. What a nice surprise for your security team.
In most of the integration solutions, it’s impossible to share the admin ownership of flows between two people. It’s quite dangerous to have only one person setting up and maintaining the integration. Especially between companies. What if they accidentally leak some crucial data? Ouch!
While using a certain solution, there was no indication on the issues/entities stating that the sync is running and is successful. Now imagine that it was broken, and end users have no idea until it’s too late: things are piling up, you’re late on a project, someone didn’t receive crucial info in time, and so on. And now, if there is only 1 person who is the admin and they overlooked the problem – you might be in a very serious mess.
The Ghost of Real-time Data Exchange
The primary goal of integration is to enable real-time data exchange, yet inappropriate software integration solutions can sabotage this effort.
When real-time integration capabilities become optional or take a backseat, you’re left with outdated or incomplete data.
Imagine a major security incident hits and the data exchange between the systems involved happens every 15 minutes. A delay this long for a security incident can at times prove detrimental, especially when time is of the essence as customer frustration continues to grow.
Real-time data exchange could have better aligned both teams instantly, enabling faster fixes and keeping customers informed in a timely manner.
Sometimes, batch-based syncs, for instance, that occur every hour can also leave you with outdated syncs and lost opportunities.
Integration can kill your production – if it’s not real-time!
Your brand-new integration takes up to 15 minutes to pick up the changes. Not cool!
Some of the other integration solutions we looked at used a kind of schedule-based approach…so every 10 minutes or whatnot.
Scalability and Flexibility: The Shape-Shifting Duo of Business Landscapes
As businesses evolve, their processes, infrastructures, and software integration requirements quietly shift like shadows in the night.
These constant changes can complicate integration setups, leading to increased time and effort to set up the new requirements, increased investments, and maintenance woes.
Software integration tools that don’t scale with these evolving needs or handle complex, advanced scenarios will set you up for doom.
What starts as a small inconvenience turns into a full-blown disaster, where setting up every new use case is limited by template-based solutions leading you to adopt workarounds that might not fulfill all your needs.
In the end, an integration that can’t grow with your business will haunt your every move, blocking innovation and keeping you stuck with your choices.
You’ve chosen what you thought was an amazing software integration tool that’s cheap, and fast, and the onboarding was swift and simple – a dream! A year passes, your company grows, and the integration scope and requirements have changed. Your awesome tool is useless now.
Scalability and flexibility- why compromise?
You purchased a best-of-breed iPaaS solution but you’re only using 15% of its capabilities. Management is asking to justify the spent and you’re struggling with an explanation.
You’ve chosen what you thought was an amazing software integration tool that’s cheap, fast, and the onboarding was swift and simple – a dream! A year passes, your company grows, and the integration scope and requirements have changed. Your awesome tool is useless now.
Pricing and Value for Money: A Double-Edged Sword
Pricing is a significant software integration challenge.
Many organizations find themselves lured in by attractive initial prices, only to be confronted with hidden fees and unexpected costs later on.
This lack of transparency can quickly turn what seemed like a cost-effective solution into a financial burden.
Additionally, some integration tools come with complex pricing models that charge based on usage, features, or the number of connections, making it difficult for businesses to predict their expenses accurately.
This unpredictability can lead to budgeting issues, forcing companies to constantly reassess their financial commitments.
Choose pricing clarity and transparency over chaos.
The monthly price of an integration app from $19 went all the way to $374 per month. For a sync tool it is just a terrible deal. For an app that makes one simple sync feature, it’s a really bad decision for any entrepreneur.
You found a solution that suits you perfectly but because the pricing model was not clear and transparent enough the initial good price turned into a huge bill because of all the all extra addons you needed to get.
You started using a freemium model in a tool that, as it seemed, had a huge cap the company would never reach in a year. 5 months past, you’re at the paywall of thousands of dollars and it’s vital for the org processes to keep depending on that integration. Now people from procurement use your photo on their darts board.
Innovation with AI: Your Supernatural Sidekick
Everyone is hopping on the AI bandwagon eager to include innovations into their daily work lives at every opportunity.
Software integration solutions, just like any other software, must evolve and quickly adapt to these AI innovations. Falling behind means more than just inefficiency – it can be a business death sentence.
In this case, you’ve got two choices: catch up with the times or prepare to get into your coffin!
AI-powered integration can help make your integrations simpler and more efficient. You can now set up even complex use cases without being “ technical enough”, making once a daunting task now accessible to everyone.
With AI, you can automate complex workflows, improve accuracy, and reduce the manual effort that often bogs down software integrations.
In a world where innovation has become this important, embracing AI means turning your software integration nightmares into success stories, leaving behind the dust of outdated integration practices.
Legacy System Overheads: The Haunt of Outdated Platforms
Imagine this: you’re trying to integrate a cutting-edge cloud solution with a cobweb-covered legacy application that barely remembers what day it is.
Integrating legacy systems with mainstream apps or infrastructure reduces the manual work your team performs to access that data, saves money on full-scale modernization, and improves customer and employee experience.
But it has its own set of pain points.
Lack of proper documentation to perform the integration
Lack of qualified technicians to implement the integration
Resistance to change the legacy system usage since it is too deeply embedded into the organization’s ecosystem
Security or compliance considerations
… turning your software integration project into a horror show.
Accumulated Technical Debt: A Lurking Monster
While building an integration yourself, every time you patch things up with a quick fix, in the world of software, this approach creates what’s known as technical debt.
So, each time you take a shortcut – a quick fix- you add to this debt. This debt if accumulated over time leads to extra work, more complex problems, and a system that becomes harder and harder to manage. Your software integration becomes slower and requires more work to maintain those patches, which often means even more quick fixes.
Eventually, a once relatively simple software integration project turns into an overwhelming monster mesh of complicated interlocking fixes.
To avoid this fate, it’s important to approach this software integration challenge thoughtfully and plan for the long term even if it takes a bit longer upfront.
Misaligned Business Processes vs. Reality: A Scary Disconnect
Organizations often perceive themselves as structured and orderly. However, take a closer look, and you might find a scary truth: the actual processes often diverge from what’s documented.
When such companies attempt software integrations without adhering to their own processes, confusion reigns.
Take, for example, a case Francis, our CEO faced with two companies collaborating for seven years.
On paper, their processes looked solid, but when they tried to integrate, hidden discrepancies slowly crept.
A recurring issue was the lack of a unified process for reopening tasks—a seemingly minor detail but one with big implications. While one company had a specific definition for reopening tasks, the other was more informal, relying on verbal approvals or assumptions about when a task needed to be revisited.
When it came time to sync these systems, the lack of clear, consistent criteria created confusion. Team members responded differently to the same scenarios, some reopening tasks multiple times, others leaving them closed, thinking it was understood.
Without an aligned, integrated process definition, the software integration spiraled into a scary state of disarray, causing miscommunication, delays, and headaches all around.
In cases like this, integration can only succeed if all parties agree on the process and follow it consistently.
Don’t Let Software Integration Challenges Keep You Up at Night!
Software integration challenges can become nightmares if not approached with the right strategy.
Security risks, non-real-time syncs, scalability issues, limiting integration use cases, unpredictable pricing, and misaligned business processes can all create significant hurdles.
On top of that, the integration tool you choose must be future-proof, able to evolve with your business and adopt AI innovations to stay competitive.
Discover how you can leave the haunting headaches of software integration behind with Exalate, without having to face any spooky surprises along the way.
With AI Assist, Exalate simplifies software integrations even further allowing non-technical users to set up even complex scenarios effortlessly.
Qualco is a software and technology company that helps businesses worldwide navigate the credit and lending landscape, ensuring compliance with industry and regulatory standards.
Danilo Simic is an Atlassian engineer responsible for integrations related to Atlassian products. We caught up with him to discuss the impacts of Exalate on their internal processes.
Use Case
The company uses Jira Service Management (JSM) for customer support, while the developers use Azure DevOps. The incidents that customers raise come to the customer support team, and depending on the type of incident, they need to be raised to the second or third level, which includes the developers working in Azure DevOps.
At first, the teams within Qualco wanted to sync simple fields between Jira and Azure DevOps. However, their integration needs continued to expand over time, necessitating the implementation of Exalate’s Script mode.
Basically, they needed a tool to help them create tickets instantly from support tickets or link existing issues to ongoing work items on Azure DevOps.
They also use JSM for change requests, incidents, and other entities related to the support-development flow. So, if the customer raises a change request, it can be escalated to the development team on Azure DevOps if needed.
Qualco also used selective comment syncing for comments containing specific hashtags and phrases and applied this to fields using Exalate’s scripting engine.
Sometimes, customer support just links bugs they find as incidents in JSM to an impediment in Azure DevOps.
Challenges
Danilo explains that Exalate helped them eliminate the use of spreadsheets and manual processes to obtain vital information from hundreds of data points across both platforms.
“Exalate helps us sync over 100 entities on a daily basis just for a single connection, which saves us time by eliminating the need for emails and spreadsheets to obtain information.” – Danilo Simic, Qualco
Exalate was the first option that came to their radar via recommendations from partners. Since it fits their business requirements, the company decided to go all-in and implement it into their flows and processes.
Solutions
The solution to their challenges was to use Exalate, specifically the Script mode, to set up a Jira Azure DevOps integration.
“The field and comment syncing work best for us because we can sync comments by tags from the Azure side. This helps us understand the affected areas.” – Danilo Simic
The main selling point was the integration’s customizable scripting engine, which allowed teams to set up their instances however they wanted. They were able to sync fields and comments with specific tags.
Why Exalate?
Danilo pointed out that the team chose Exalate because of the following reasons:
• The scripting engine allows configuration with infinite possibilities. • The solution supports near real-time synchronization and triggered connections. • The decentralized architecture allows teams to work autonomously. • The synchronized data doesn’t exist outside the environment. • The support team was also helpful in addressing issues and setting up the connection.
“It was quite easy for me to expand on the integration capabilities using the scripting engine after a short learning curve.”
-Danilo Simic
Results
• Increased customer satisfaction. • Improved reporting and tracking for ongoing initiatives. • Sped up the delivery of reports from days to minutes. • Increased the average response and resolution time. • Established autonomy for admins of both teams to close and open tickets on their end. • Smoothened collaborations between developers and customer support.
Future
Based on their experience working with Exalate, Danilo believes that Qualco will use the integration solution to connect with more teams in the company.
They also hope to expand the connection to at least two more internal processes that are still running on emails and spreadsheets. Going forward, Danilo foresees Exalate playing a significant role in their internal processes.
Integration solutions form an important part of your technology stack and often play a critical role in most businesses.
Today, we decided to compare two popular integration solutions: Getint and Exalate.
It’s important to get a clear, transparent, and unbiased perspective when it comes to comparisons.
So in this blog post, we compare their main features, pricing, licensing, etc., to help you make an informed decision.
Let’s get started.
Getint: An Introduction
Getint is a synchronization app for platforms like Jira, Azure DevOps, Salesforce, Asana, etc. It allows both one-way and two-way synchronization. Though primarily a Jira app, it also comes as a standalone platform that is available both as a SaaS and on-premise solution.
Exalate: An Introduction
Exalate is an integration solution designed to connect ITSM and work management tools across different teams and companies. It allows both one-way and two-way integration while keeping each side fully autonomous. Through its scripting engine, it provides a blend of flexibility and control, giving you the freedom to manage your sync the way you want.
Let’s delve into the features that make these solutions unique and appealing.
Decentralized Vs. Centralized
Exalate is a decentralized integration solution. In essence, it means each integrating side independently decides what it shares and doesn’t share with the other side.
We kept the architecture decentralized to ensure additional security. Such an integration will help you restrict access to shared data accidentally or on purpose. This setup is especially beneficial for companies that wish to sync with external providers, suppliers, or customers without having to contact them for every single change in the integration process.
Getint is based on a centralized interface initially designed to be used within the Jira environment. A single admin is responsible for setting up and maintaining the integration mappings and configurations. Although this can be easier for an intra-company setup, it is purely exhausting for a cross-company scenario.
The Bottom Line: While a centralized interface is more common and familiar and, therefore, may seem simpler, decentralized integration increases security and is ideal for cross-company integrations.
Platforms Supported
Getint supports different platforms like Jira, Salesforce, Asana, monday.com, ServiceNow, etc.
Exalate supports fewer platforms than Getint but has a much wider integration scope and possibilities. It provides integrations for Jira, ServiceNow, Salesforce, Azure DevOps, Zendesk, GitHub, etc.
Getint can be deployed either as a SaaS (Software as a service) or on-premise and can work as a standalone application behind the firewall.
Exalate can be deployed on the cloud for all the systems, but you can also choose to deploy it on docker for all the supported platforms, depending on your security requirements.
The Bottom Line: Getint has the upper hand with the number of platforms it supports. However, Exalate is a winner when it comes to the range of possible use cases, including deep integration and advanced cross-company scenarios.
Embedded UI
We observed that with Getint, it’s not possible to view the sync status directly within the platform’s entity view. To do that, a Jira admin needs to navigate to the Getint dashboard to view it there.
This can be frustrating for users, especially since the purpose of integration is to get the information within the tool without having to take extra steps.
Additionally, any updates to the synced entity are reflected only upon refreshing the screen, forcing users to perform an additional step.
Exalate has an embedded UI for platforms like Jira, Azure DevOps, Salesforce, and Zendesk. This makes it easy to view the sync information right within the entity view. It’s also easy to view the progress of the sync in the embedded UI without having to navigate to another interface. There is also a direct link to the remote synced entity within the embedded Exalate panel.
Additionally, all updates are real-time, and if you have a good internet connection on both sides, it’s almost instant.
The Bottom Line: Exalate can be a better option if an embedded UI and sync status visibility are important to you.
Customization or Flexibility
Perhaps the beauty of an integration solution is its ability to handle intricate scenarios elegantly and effortlessly.
Both Exalate and Getint provide scripting capabilities for advanced use cases, but they differ in the way it is provided.
Getint’s UI is impressive in the way that it covers the most common use cases. It also supports variables and logical conditions for dynamic value construction in fields. It uses Javascript for advanced scenarios. For any additional integration configurations, you can contact their support.
However, we had our engineers look into their scripting feature and they concluded that it’s very basic and isn’t enough for advanced scenarios. So, the claim that they support advanced scenarios with scripting is questionable.
Exalate on the other hand is built to handle complex scenarios gracefully, that’s what it does best. Its Script mode is based on Groovy scripting and is strong enough to handle any use case thrown at it. You no longer need to worry about squeezing integration requirements through the UI.
You might feel safe with a visual interface that allows you to set your sync requirements through a drag-and-drop mechanism, but as you progress, requirements change, which means being limited to what the tool offers. If you look at this with respect to cost-effectiveness, the more the tool can do, the better will be the ROI.
“Take your time to dive into what’s possible with Exalate. There’s so much under the hood that you could do – if you keep it simple and use defaults, it’s only 5% of what’s possible, you could build crazy and cool stuff” – Maarten Cautreels, Product Owner, DPG Media
Possibilities with Getint and Exalate: A Deep Dive
Both these solutions differ in their functionalities related to customization. We’ll cover a few of them in this section.
Both Getint and Exalate can sync historical data, but the bulk sync process in Getint involves far more steps than in Exalate.
Both these platforms can sync custom fields, comments, attachments, etc., bi-directionally. However, Exalate can handle certain advanced scenarios, like configuring comment syncing at a granular level. This cannot be implemented using Getint. Let’s understand this in detail. Jira Cloud and Jira on-premise handle user mentions differently. Ensuring the right user is mentioned with every sync will ensure transparency and visibility amongst teams.
Exalate can sync third-party plugin data like Insights, Tempo Worklogs, etc., whereas Getint cannot.
Getint allows syncing hierarchies in a standard manner and works for simple scenarios. Exalate allows syncing hierarchies using scripts in any way defined by the user, such as multi-level hierarchy sync between Jira and Azure DevOps.
Since Exalate has the entire Groovy scripting capability at its disposal, there’s a lot you can build using scripts, including advanced computing and mapping logic. This cannot be said for Getint.
Exalate allows you to set up granular platform-specific triggers to filter entities for sync. For instance, you can use SOQL (Salesforce object query language) in Salesforce and WIQL (Work item query language) in Azure DevOps. These triggers are available independently for all integrating sides giving you better control. Filters in Getint can be set up using the UI and can be limited by the UI.
Getint’s bulk resync feature should be an inbuilt functionality. We failed to understand the need for this feature. According to their documentation, bulk resync is used to re-synchronize multiple records or issues across integrated platforms in one go. With Exalate, this feature always runs forever.
The Bottom Line: Exalate works wonderfully for deep integrations, so if that’s your use case, it is the best choice. Plus, it provides you with the flexibility to implement any use case, no matter how complex it is. You can do almost anything with AI Assist, the AI-assisted integration feature of Script mode.
Getint’s UI looks extensive at the onset and you can use scripts on top of their UI for added flexibility, but then again its functionality is very basic if compared with Exalate’s Script mode.
We also performed research of our own to understand the scripting capabilities Getint claims to have but they were very modest, to say the least.
Security
Integration security includes measures like encryption, role-based access control, use of secure transfer protocols, data privacy, and the like.
Getint’s security measures raised some concerns for us since we could not find any reference to guaranteeing the safety of customer data at rest or in transit.
Our internal security engineer, after reviewing their security statement, concluded that it is unlikely that the information stored is encrypted on their servers. This makes the data much more vulnerable in case of breach.
Getint is ISO 27001 and 27018 certified.
We also observed that the full contents of Jira issues are exposed in logs on the remote side, which can be accessed.
Exalate has a multi-layered approach to data security and employs solid encryption protocols with security ceremonies throughout the development process. It is ISO 27001 certified.
As discussed earlier, our decentralized integration approach increases the security of the data inherently.
Through a single-tenant architecture, Exalate helps prevent data leakage by keeping it isolated at the infrastructure level, improving security, and lowering the risk of data breaches.
You can understand the entire Exalate security posture in this whitepaper.
The Bottom Line: If you want peace of mind without having to worry about your data and integration security, then Exalate is a good choice. We have it all in black and white, without any room for discrepancies or doubts.
User-friendliness
Getint has a solid visual interface that handles most of the mappings. You can use advanced scripting on top of the UI.
We also came across some nice features in their UI, like deciding the time when the integration should be run and, for instance, excluding it on weekends.
Exalate offers three modes: Basic, Visual (BETA), and Script mode.
Getint’s visual mapping interface might be preferred by users as it’s generally accepted that template-based or visual interfaces are more user-friendly than scripting. But Exalate champions disagree and say that they will never exchange the freedom of scripting for the best UI interface in the world.
The Bottom Line: If your use case is standard or a slight deviation from standard, then Getint’s visual interface can be a win for you. But if you want the whole scope from simple or common to the most intricate and customized use cases, then Exalate is hands down the winner.
Migration Vs. Integration
Getint provides an option for migration at an additional cost in addition to the integration functionality.
Exalate is more focused on integrations rather than migrations. This is because our tool was built for advanced ongoing integrations. We can perform migrations as well because migration, in a nutshell, is a one-way sync, but we choose not to because it’s a strategic business decision for us.
Getint does do both and in our opinion, no tool can do both perfectly.
The Bottom Line: If you are looking for stable, fully functional, ongoing integrations, then Exalate is the right choice. If you just want one-time migrations, Getint can be the answer.
Support
Both Exalate and Getint pride themselves on their support teams.
However, as of October 2024, Exalate has a much bigger support team consisting of 12 dedicated members covering all time zones. We also have Aida, our AI sidekick, who works 24/7 to help answer any Exalate questions you may have.
The Bottom Line: Exalate’s support fairs well on most fronts.
Documentation, Community & Partner Network
Getint has very limited documentation and doesn’t have a community. They claim to have partners but we could not find enough substantial information regarding this.
We also came across a Getint news update where they introduce AI-enhanced documentation but couldn’t find any AI traces on their site.
Exalate’s documentation sweeps away Getint’s by a fair margin, offering step-by-step video tutorials, proper case studies including customer names, extensive use case examples, and Aida, the AI sidekick that works as a documentation assistant.
We also have a community that is planned to be revamped soon for deeper collaborations, peer-to-peer configuration support, and sharing best practices. Our partner network is worldwide and features stars from Atlassian solution partner programs and other ecosystems. Our partners even provide configuration support in their respective time zones.
We did not find enough reviews for Getint on G2, Capterra, and Trustpilot.
The Bottom Line: Exalate’s documentation & other resources are far superior to Getint.
Pricing, Licensing, & Value
While Getint claims to offer fair pricing and shaming other vendors for asking more, it’s important to note that Exalate’s pricing is competitive and often comparable or even more affordable, especially for high-tier instances.
Our customers say they receive excellent value for their investment while enjoying a comprehensive integration solution. Contact us for all your pricing questions.
Customer reviews
Getint
Exalate
From the pricing point of view, it should be affordable for small businesses. The onboarding & tool deployment process could be simplified.
We evaluated different products and Exalate was the one. It was also the most cost-effective overall.
It’s amazing how Exalate satisfied our complex synchronization needs. Plus, we managed to reduce the monthly costs of our Service Desk by around 95%
Exalate’s licensing model requires licenses to be purchased for all integrating instances and can be a bit intense for newcomers. But there are a lot of options and custom offers that can be worked out. Also, our team is there to help you right from the start.
Many of our customers also choose to form integration networks with various connection models, such as hub and spoke or peer-to-peer, connecting with external teams or companies. A flexible network licensing model works well for such cases. We offer this as a part of our enterprise package.
The Bottom Line: Exalate’s pricing is competitive and fair & provides better value for money as compared to Getint. With the vision to form a worldwide network of connected companies, we see customers expanding their integration networks with a licensing model that ensures better value for money.
Error Handling
Getint provides an overview of the errors in their centralized UI without a dedicated section. It provides a summary of all the runs, triggers, outcomes, `and statuses of integrations. If an error occurs, there is an explanation for the error that might help with further investigation. You can resync after resolving the errors.
Exalate has a dedicated UI tab for errors. They are categorized based on which side the error occurs: incoming or outgoing. If a particular script line (s) throws an error, you get detailed error logs pointing to the specific line (s).
You can always choose to debug the script to understand where things are going wrong.
You can view the actual contents passed behind the scenes using the “Entity sync status” tab and use it to troubleshoot.
The Bottom Line: We didn’t find any special difference between the way error handling happens in Exalate and Getint.
Reporting and Statistics
Getint has a comprehensive interface for reporting and statistics, which is very handy.
Exalate does not provide in-depth reporting and statistics just yet. We have the detailed logging and test run feature currently under development. You can track the progress here.
The Bottom Line: Getint has better reporting capabilities than Exalate.
AI-Assisted Integration
AI is all the rage these days!
Exalate’s AI Assist in Script mode is a deliberate attempt to make integrations useful and accessible to everyone, irrespective of their technical background.
To use AI-powered integration in Script mode, you simply enter your requirements in the AI chat window, review the scripts the AI suggests, and publish them. Keep refining your prompt until you are satisfied with the result.
As of the date of publishing this blog post, Getint doesn’t have an in-built AI capability for its integrations.
The Bottom Line: Exalate’s AI Assist is a shift in the way traditional script-based integrations work. It is the first integration co-pilot that helps reduce the need to search for relevant scripts or write them from scratch.
The Last Word
At the onset, though Getint and Exalate serve the same purpose, they are different in a lot of ways.
Ultimately, the choice between Exalate and Getint depends on your specific integration requirements and priorities. If you seek a solid and powerful ongoing integration solution, with kickass support and AI-assisted integration, with a strong focus on data security and comprehensive functionality, Exalate is the recommended option.
Key Takeaways
Feature
Getint
Exalate
Decentralized Vs. Centralized
Good if a single admin wants to control both sides.
But also more prone to a single point of failure.
Gives each side complete & independent control over their integration.
Perfect for cross-company collaborations.
Platforms Supported
More platforms than Exalate
Fewer platforms than Getint with the possibility of much deeper integration.
Embedded UI
Embedded UI is not available.
Near real-time syncs.
UI embedded within certain platforms.
Instant, real-time syncs & sync updates.
Customization or Flexibility
Integration is limited by the visual interface.
Limitless possibilities with the Groovy-based scripting engine.
Security
Getint’s security measures raise concerns like the safety of customer data at rest & in transit.
The full contents of Jira issues are exposed as logs on the remote side & can be accessed.
Exalate has in place all the required security measures like encryption, RBAC, etc.
It also has additional features like single-tenancy for enhanced security.
User-friendly drag-and-drop interface for common or standard use cases.
Not suited for advanced scenarios
Visual and Basic modes for pretty straightforward scenarios.
Scripting UI for complex or advanced use cases.
Migration Vs. Integration
Supports both migration and integration.
Exalate focuses only on integrations and does them the best through its scripting capabilities.
Support
Getint’s support team operates from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM, Monday through Friday, adhering to the GMT+01:00 time zone
Exalate has a bigger support team with dedicated members covering all time zones. Also, has the option of Priority support.
Documentation, Community & Partner Network
Limited documentation.
No community.
No substantial information is available on their partner network.
Extensive documentation with step-by-step tutorials, Exalate academy, community presence, and a worldwide network of partners.
Pricing, Licensing & Value
Getint’s pricing is based on the Atlassian marketplace for Jira.
For other connectors, it starts from $1800/year.
The basic plan is not extensive and doesn’t support real-time sync. Plus, for some standard integration features it’s necessary to upgrade the plan.
Getint claims to offer fair pricing & shames other vendors for asking more but Exalate offers competitive pricing, often more affordable for high-tier instances.
Currently lacks built-in AI capabilities for integrations.
With AI Assist in Script mode, anyone can create integrations by entering requirements, reviewing AI-suggested scripts, and refining prompts until satisfied.
Side Note
During our research, we also came across Getint’s comparison with Exalate on their website. If you prefer getting to know their point of view, you can always read it here.
But, why did we think of sharing it? Well, competition is healthy, and we know our users have choices. So, to stay in tune with the market and its trends we wanted to share all perspectives with you.
The sole purpose is to give you all the information available to us without any assumptions and present the reality as it is!
While doing so, we meticulously reviewed a wide range of Getint resources, including product documentation, customer feedback, case studies, and more. Our team dedicated ~14 hours to research, testing, and validation to ensure that every aspect of the comparison reflects our best understanding of their platform.
We are happy to announce the launch of AI Assist, our latest feature that brings AI-driven support to script-based integrations. With AI Assist, we’re taking a big step toward making software integration easier and more efficient for businesses of all sizes.
AI Assist is like having an expert co-pilot by your side. It provides real-time support to help you automatically generate sync scripts, whether your project is simple or complex. You’ll receive smart suggestions and handy code snippets seamlessly integrated into the Exalate interface. This means your workflow remains uninterrupted—simply review the prompts and sync with confidence!
“While many SaaS products are catching up with the AI hype, we at Exalate have been exploring practical AI applications for integration, drawing from our 10+ years of expertise. AI Assist isn’t just about following the trend—it’s about making AI work in ways that truly improve the integration process” says our CEO, Francis Martens.
This means saving you time, cutting down on errors, and making advanced integrations more accessible to users with varying levels of technical expertise.
At Exalate, we always prioritize security in our integrations and are committed to upholding the highest data security standards. Our decentralized architecture and ISO 27001 certification ensure that your data remains safe throughout the entire process.
AI Assist is available at no additional cost to all users with access to Script mode. Looking ahead, we plan to enhance AI Assist’s capabilities, focusing on improving its understanding of complex integration rules.
At Exalate, we’ve always believed that integration should empower, not overwhelm. Today, we’re thrilled to introduce AI Assist, a bold step in our journey of transforming the integration landscape.
AI Assist redefines how businesses connect and collaborate across systems.
This blog is your guide to everything you need to know about our newest AI Assist—how it works, what makes it unique, and why you should try it today.
What is AI Assist?
AI Assist is our latest feature that brings the power of artificial intelligence into the world of script-based integrations. Designed to enhance Exalate’s already powerful scripting capabilities, it helps users create dynamic sync rules effortlessly.
Imagine having a co-pilot for your integrations—one that not only understands your needs but also helps you generate precise synchronization rules for both simple and complex scenarios.
And the best part? It’s free for all users with access to Exalate’s Script mode.
Why AI Assist? The Need for Smarter Integration Tools
Let’s be honest: script-based integrations can be challenging. They’re often time-consuming, prone to errors, and demand a high level of technical expertise—especially if you’re not familiar with Groovy or other scripting languages.
The growing demand for AI-powered integration tools is a response to these challenges, making the process smarter, faster, and more intuitive.
AI Assist fills a crucial gap in the market by simplifying these complex processes, allowing businesses to stay ahead of the curve. It’s not just about improving your workflow through integrations—it’s about reimagining what’s possible when AI and human expertise come together.
Key Features of AI Assist
Dynamic Sync Rules Generation: AI Assist generates sync rules for both routine and advanced integration scenarios, reducing the need for manual scripting.
Embedded UI: The AI integrates seamlessly within the Exalate interface, offering suggestions and code snippets directly where you need them.
A Peek Behind the Scenes: How AI Assist Works
Behind the simplicity of AI Assist lies a sophisticated AI-driven engine designed to understand the context of your integration needs. It starts by analyzing your input, learning from common patterns, and using that data to offer optimized sync rules.
The embedded UI ensures that suggestions are made contextually, giving you accurate results in real time.
Benefits for Users
Time-Saving: AI Assist reduces the time spent on writing or searching for integration code snippets, boosting productivity.
Enhanced Accuracy: By reducing manual input, it lowers the chances of making errors while writing integration scripts, ensuring precise and dependable outcomes.
Broad Accessibility: Even users with limited technical expertise can create sophisticated integration configurations, broadening accessibility across all skill levels.
Quality Assurance: The AI ensures that the scripts generated follow best practices, giving users confidence that their integrations are robust and reliable.
How AI Assist Enhances the Exalate Experience
When comparing AI Assist with traditional methods of managing script-based integrations, the advantages are clear.
AI Assist offers a faster, smarter, and more reliable alternative. Instead of spending time crafting and troubleshooting scripts, users benefit from dynamic rule generation and real-time AI-powered suggestions.
This minimizes errors, reduces the learning curve for those unfamiliar with scripting, and ensures best practices are followed.
By integrating directly into the user interface, AI Assist provides context-aware guidance, making the process of complex integrations more accessible and efficient for both beginners and advanced users.
Limitations and Future Developments
As powerful as AI Assist is, we acknowledge that it’s still evolving.
One current limitation is that it doesn’t offer real-time script refinement in AI mode, and like any AI-driven tool, it can occasionally make mistakes or suggest less-than-optimal code.
That’s why it’s always important to review and fine-tune the generated scripts before publishing any changes to ensure accuracy and alignment with your specific needs.
Future updates will focus on addressing these issues, enhancing the AI’s predictive capabilities, and further automating more complex scenarios.
We’re committed to continuously improving AI Assist, ensuring that each update brings us closer to our vision of reinventing integration.
How to Get Started with AI Assist
Ready to give AI Assist a try? Here’s how to get started:
Install Exalate on the systems you wish to integrate.
Set up a Script mode connection.
Enter your synchronization requirements in the AI chat window, providing detailed information for the best results.
AI Assist generates sync scripts automatically, taking into account your existing configurations and Exalate’s scripting API.
You can either discard the AI suggestions entirely or accept and publish them if they meet your needs. If adjustments are necessary, you can refine your prompts and keep iterating until you’re satisfied with the output.
Still need help? Check out our documentation to guide you along the way.
Explore AI Assist: Stay Ahead of the Curve
AI Assist marks the beginning of a new chapter for Exalate and its vision for AI-powered integrations. By combining the power of AI with Exalate’s robust platform, we’re redefining how businesses think about connectivity.
Integration is no longer a tedious task. It’s a creative process, guided by machine intelligence and driven by user needs.
For personalized assistance or to explore how AI Assist can meet your specific needs, don’t hesitate to reach out. We’re here to help every step of the way.
And stay tuned—there’s so much more to come as we continue on our journey of reinvention.
Integrating different systems has become one of the biggest challenges for businesses. Managing multiple platforms is tricky enough, but getting them to talk to each other seamlessly?
That’s a whole different game.
And let’s be honest, setting up integrations is rarely straightforward. It can feel like trying to fit puzzle pieces that don’t quite match.
To transform the conventional ways of integration, software vendors have started introducing AI-powered integration, which brings the power of AI into the integration landscape.
If you’re curious about what AI-driven integration is all about, you’re in the right place.
We’ve gathered everything you need to know about this growing trend, along with some real-world examples to show it in action.
What is AI-powered Integration?
AI-powered integration is the process of using artificial intelligence to automate and improve the integration of different systems, applications, and data sources that organizations use every day.
AI-powered integration works differently for every integration.
For example, AI might help build quick, low-code connectors for new systems. Or, it can go deeper, auto-generating custom scripts to handle complex integration use cases.
Traditional integration methods often involve labor-intensive self-serve coding, complex configurations, and ongoing maintenance.
AI changes this game by leveraging machine learning algorithms, natural language processing, and other advanced techniques to simplify data mapping, automate workflows, and reduce human errors.
AI-Powered Integration Features
Let’s break down the key features of using AI in data integration:
Smart Data Mapping
One of the biggest headaches in integration is ensuring data fields match up correctly across systems. AI can analyze vast amounts of data, finding correlations and creating mappings automatically. It also offers suggestions when systems use different terminology for the same data points.
Error Detection and Correction
When you’re dealing with large volumes of data, mistakes happen. AI is excellent at spotting anomalies that might slip past human oversight. For instance, if a particular entry keeps failing, AI can flag the issue, suggest fixes, or even correct the problem itself.
AI-powered Business Process Automation
AI can automate business processes and make real-time decisions based on incoming data. In areas like supply chain management, this means systems can adjust workflows on the fly—saving both time and money without human involvement. Additionally, as businesses increasingly adopt AI to streamline workflows, many turn to AI integration services to embed machine learning models, natural language processing, and automation into their existing IT ecosystems.
Predictive Insights
AI can forecast potential problems before they disrupt your business. By analyzing historical data, it identifies trends and alerts teams to issues before they happen. This kind of foresight keeps everything running smoothly.
AI-assisted integration is no longer a futuristic concept—it’s actively being implemented in the integration industry today.
Let’s explore a few real-world applications.
Practical AI-Powered Integration Use Cases
Here’s how different teams can use AI-assisted integration to their advantage.
Support and Development Teams
Often support agents are the first point of contact for customer issues. Sometimes, certain issues need to be handed over to the development team.
Say, an incident of Priority 1 is created in one system and has to be instantly reflected in the other system based on the logic you define. The logic can be as simple and as complicated as it can be, for instance, sync only internal comments between Jira and ServiceNow or map and sync statuses along with the SLA information between systems.
Using AI to automatically generate scripts for such workflows would help set up an advanced integration in a matter of minutes.
Engineering and QA Teams
Engineering and QA teams need to incorporate testing activities into the development lifecycle, ensuring a seamless transition of features from development to testing and finally to production.
With the help of AI-assisted integration, these teams can maintain consistency in their release processes and ensure sprint integrity, all in a timely manner.
Sales and Customer Success Teams
Sales teams often log important customer information in systems like Salesforce. Customer success (CS) teams using a completely different system might benefit from customer-centric queries, feedback, etc.
Through AI-powered integration, you can ensure the CS teams proactively have customer insights handy whenever needed for a richer customer experience.
The Benefits of AI-Powered Integration
So, why should businesses adopt AI-powered integration? Here are a few points to consider:
Efficiency: You can automate routine integration tasks using AI thus freeing up time and resources you’d otherwise need to set up integrations. In turn, teams can focus on strategic priorities.
Scalability: Businesses grow and so do integrations. Using AI you can scale your integration as IT environments become more complex. AI-powered integration solutions can scale to handle new systems and data sources without the need for extensive configuration.
Cost Savings: AI-powered automation reduces the manual effort required to create an integration. You can then avoid costly errors, lower project costs, and boost ROI.
User Friendly: It’s obvious that using AI for integration makes it more accessible to a variety of users, with differing technical expertise.
Time Savings: AI-powered integration setups are faster and easier than traditional methods.
Practical Steps for Implementing AI-Powered Integration
If you think you’re ready to explore AI-powered integration, here’s how to get started:
Evaluate your Integration Needs
Evaluate your current integration pain points and identify relevant use cases. Answer questions like: where can AI make the biggest impact?
Select the Right AI-powered Automation Solution
Always consider AI-powered solutions that fit your business needs and technical environment well. Make sure it’s easy to use, scalable, and has good support.
Start Small, then Grow
It’s always better to test AI-powered integration in only one area first, say for a specific business domain or a single use case. Once you start seeing the benefits, gradually scale it across other areas.
Train your Team
Don’t forget to prepare your team with the right skills to manage integrations using AI technology. This is an important step to ensure you get the most out of AI.
Monitor and Refine
Always monitor how your AI-powered integration performs. Use what you learn to refine and optimize over time.
AI Assist from Exalate: Simplify the Scripting Experience
Exalate is an integration solution that helps connect different tools like Jira, Salesforce, ServiceNow, Azure DevOps, Zendesk, etc. It ensures that teams using these systems can stay aligned without the need for manual data transfer.
For those familiar with Exalate, you know that its Script mode is based on Groovy scripting that allows you to implement deep integrations between different systems, so you don’t have to squeeze out your requirements through the possibilities of the integration tool.
However, writing those scripts can sometimes be a challenge.
That’s why Exalate developed AI Assist, an integration co-pilot that helps administrators create integration scripts more efficiently. Embedded as a chat window in the scripting interface, AI Assist analyzes user input and suggests scripts based on existing configurations.
What Does AI Assist Do?
AI Assist simplifies the script creation process by analyzing the user’s input for their specific use case and suggesting configurations and scripts that are easier to create and maintain.
This makes the entire scripting process more efficient and less error-prone.
Here’s how AI Assist works:
Step 1: Enter your sync requirements into the AI chat window. Make sure you’re clear and provide as much information as possible.
Keep in mind that AI Assist, like any AI, isn’t flawless. The more precise and detailed your prompts, the better the results will be.
Step 2: AI assist automatically generates the sync scripts for you, considering the existing configurations and Exalate’s scripting API. In a simple color-coded manner, you can visualize the suggested scripts and understand what needs to be added or deleted.
Step 3: You can choose to discard the AI suggestions completely or accept and publish the scripts if everything looks fine. You can always go back and refine your prompts until the output meets your expectations.
By utilizing AI Assist, Exalate Administrators can achieve more accurate configurations with less effort.
This tool enhances productivity, reduces the chances of errors, and ensures a more satisfying user experience. It’s a step forward in making complex integrations simpler and more accessible for all users.
The Future of AI-Powered Integration
The future of using AI for integrations looks bright and will keep growing. As technology develops you can expect advanced automation, more sophisticated results, and deeper integration capabilities. The sooner businesses adopt AI-powered integration, the better equipped they will be to handle any complexities.
Conclusion
There’s more to AI-powered integration than meets the eye. You can experience benefits like greater efficiency, scalability, and cost savings within your integration environment, making it more intuitive and human-friendly.
If you think you’re ready for AI-powered integrations, let’s talk.
