Are you getting the most out of your MuleSoft toolkit?

All Case Studies > Are you getting the most out of your MuleSoft toolkit?

You’re only as good as your tools, or so the old axiom goes.

We all want our operations to run as smoothly as possible. And these days, with so many incredible digital transformation tools at our disposal, there’s never been a better time to leverage the latest technological advancements in order to wring every bit of productivity and efficiency out of an operation.

Of course, it’s not as simple as switching something on and letting the tech do the rest. To get the most out of these capable and adaptable tools, you need to know the ins and outs of best practice. 

That’s where we come in.

One of the most popular and intuitive tools out there is MuleSoft. MuleSoft represents a unified solution for automation, integration, and Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) that easily automates any workflow and system for your team.

At Cloudwerx, our in-house experts are across all of MuleSoft details. We’ve pulled together a list of common misconceptions, pros and cons, and best practices to ensure your tools are being used in the right way.

 

1 + 1 does not always equal 2

One of the biggest common misconceptions coming out of the MuleSoft rumour mill is that it’s a highly expensive piece of tech. 

This isn’t necessarily the case at all.

In straightforward terms, it’s often thought that in the world of APIs and code, all is created equal. For the uninitiated, a fair assumption would be that one API equals one code. When you do the maths, the costs for multiple codes can start to add up and the figures that are spat out can appear quite daunting.

Fret not! The good news is that MuleSoft can handle multiple codes. It’s not a 1:1 relationship and likely not as expensive as you might assume. 

To cater for all different sizes of operations and API combinations, the scalable nature of MuleSoft through leveraging existing APIs in your application network means that incremental changes are absolutely achievable with minimal efforts (even as low as 0.1!). With MuleSoft’s tiered API led architecture, and hundreds and thousands of well established and ready made connectors, templates, and best practice frameworks that are readily available on AppExchange. Unlike many other digital transformation tools, you do not start from scratch but build and compose new value services on top of these high reusable assets , allowing teams to deliver solutions for any scenarios from a simple API to the orchestration of complicated processes, ETL style of data integration, EDA and asynchronous applications, cloud and partner ecosystem integration scenarios at speed. 

 

Automation vs manual: the pros and cons

Just like when you’re shopping for a new car, it’s natural to compare what’s on offer in a segment. But it’s also prudent to do your own research and understand the features of each car best suit your needs.

On paper, Amazon Web Services (AWS) and MuleSoft will look pretty similar in terms of their abilities. AWS can come in lower in terms of the upfront costs of implementation, but there are significant differences and points to consider in real world applications. With the inherent DIY style of implementing solutions on AWS, it not only demands a strong design and development team, ensuring the right tools on AWS are picked and these tools are operated in the correct way, but adds up all the recurring costs from every tiny service that you use, leading to a total cost of ownership that may defeat your original purpose.

One way to better understand the value of MuleSoft against AWS is to look at automation abilities. In simple terms, what can be automated in MuleSoft is often carried out manually in AWS. This can quickly cancel out any cost benefit when more people are needed to enter data across a longer period of time and inevitably, with more errors. 

So jumping back to the tool analogy now, this is where you need the right one for the job.

 

The right MuleSoft tools for the job

The beauty of MuleSoft is that it isn’t just a blunt instrument — it’s a multi-layered tool built for multiple applications and processes. It’s more Swiss Army Knife as opposed to a hammer.

Whatever the scenario, MuleSoft has an answer in its toolkit.

If you’re thinking system integration, high volume data, changing from one format of information to another, or you need to undertake a heavy amount of transformation, MuleSoft’s Anypoint is going to be a good fit.

When you’re doing a straightforward process integration, or using a system that MuleSoft Composer has a connector for, then it may be significantly easier, faster and cheaper to use Composer.

And when looking at automation with a human repetitive task when there is no API, MuleSoft RPA have you covered as well.

The power of MuleSoft is that they recognise that every project and operation will have their own set of needs and requirements. To help, they’ve conveniently packaged up Anypoint, Composer and RPA under one connected product to give you access to the best tool for your job.

If you’d like to learn more about how to really harness the full power of MuleSoft, get in touch today. 

If you are interested in working with Cloudwerx, please reach out to hello@cloudwerx.com. We offer free consultations, and would love to hear about your business.

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