MuleSoft aims to drive RPA discussions back to an end-to-end process

A year after Salesforce acquired the robotic process automation (RPA) capabilities of Servicetrace (for an undisclosed sum), integration efforts are taking shape. MuleSoft RPA is now integrated and available as part of the MuleSoft Automation portfolio and, through that, the wider Salesforce platform. Adding RPA to MuleSoft’s application programming interface (API) expertise gives customers the option of selecting the best alternative from API or RPA on a step-by-process-step basis.

When implemented, this approach means that for any automation of a back-end process step, or a step requiring greater resilience, MuleSoft customers can apply public APIs or connectors to abstract and simplify customer APIs. RPA can reach where APIs can’t, such as in many front-end, human-labor-intensive activities. MuleSoft – which Salesforce acquired for $6.5b in 2018, can record actions using traditional UI-automation techniques or, for web apps, in a headless fashion, avoiding the need for a browser and removing a risk that can make RPA brittle. Combining RPA and API-enabled automation techniques is a valuable convergence in delivering end-to-end processes involving both front and back offices.

Automation offering takes on best-of-breed RPA

MuleSoft RPA is bundled with MuleSoft Composer (a low code integration tool) and a “lite” version of its Anypoint Platform as a single automation package. Rather than simply supporting and expanding Salesforce capabilities, MuleSoft targets RPA rivals. Gaining mindshare from UiPath, Automation Anywhere, NICE, and Pega requires significant marketing investments. To help MuleSoft tackle the uphill battle outside the Salesforce ecosystem, it launched with 10 global launch partners adding services muscle to the proposition. Part of that proposition is Quickstart, MuleSoft’s services offering designed to deliver outcomes with the automation suite.

There are good reasons why HFS had declared RPA dead over the years. But the value proposition of RPA has legs when it develops into a broader proposition to scale and fulfill clients’ requirements. MuleSoft emphasizes a “unified solution for automation, integration, and APIs to easily automate any workflow,” meaning it is taking on not just the likes of UiPath and Automation Anywhere but also multi-product platforms like Microsoft, SAP, and ServiceNow.

Composability offers flexibility; shared language extends reach across Salesforce

Salesforce delivers composability by consuming RPA automations via APIs or the Salesforce-native Invocable Actions framework. A low code interface enables MuleSoft RPA business and IT users to collaborate and automate block-by-composable-block workflows with a point-and-click interface.

Customers can share their outcomes using the common language of the Invocable Actions framework, through which the Salesforce platform can consume and expose them, extending the potential for end-to-end process delivery across both Salesforce and MuleSoft.

Customers can share and reuse each RPA through Salesforce 360; MuleSoft’s Anypoint Platform provides governance. They can accomplish process automation in MuleSoft Composer and C360 (Salesforce CRM) via the Orchestrator tool, reducing duplication and offering faster adoption across an enterprise.

The benefits for an IT department in a Salesforce-heavy enterprise, is the ability to govern all assets via integration with the Anypoint platform and maintain them through integrated monitoring and support.

Let the automation flow…across the front, middle, and back offices

Flow RPA is part of MuleSoft RPA’s 2022 launch, adding RPA capabilities to the existing Salesforce Flow automation portfolio. Flow RPA, Flow Integration, and Flow Orchestration are available now. Flow Actions and Flow in Slack are currently in beta. MuleSoft intends the Salesforce Flow portfolio to surface actions in Slack, enable complex task automation, and integrate data across systems. It is all part of “laddering up” MuleSoft’s data and automation capabilities into and across the Salesforce tech stack with an eye to delivering end-to-end processes—in line with HFS’ silo-busting OneOffice approach.

MuleSoft intends its pricing to support a broad, strategic, end-to-end approach to automation. For $57,000, you get 57,000 “automation credits” to spend across MuleSoft RPA and Composer. There are no core license fees or individual user charges. MuleSoft charges per minute of bot usage—customers only pay when the bot is working.

The Bottom Line: It’s a tempting OneOffice proposition for committed Salesforce customers—but only if the partner network has the RPA expertise to deliver

Within the Salesforce ecosystem, MuleSoft offers the option to use RPA to fill the gaps APIs can’t reach and vice versa, powering end-to-end process capability where both manual and system tasks combine. The inherent composability provides flexibility to build ideal fits for the particular needs of any given process. While that may be slower than off-the-shelf solutions, the instant reusability across the Salesforce and Anypoint platforms will make it a tempting automation proposition for the huge installed customer base if the partner network can access sufficient RPA programmer expertise to support it.

Outside of that landing patch, this endeavor looks ambitious – and Salesforce does have investment of circa $7b to recoup, which would require a significant reshaping of the market. For RPA-centric requirements, clients expect a broad set of capabilities. Proving the services capability will be a critical next step and we expect more to follow.