Back in 2017, when French agricultural co-operative Maïsadour decided to rationalize its sprawling IT systems into one centralized architecture, on-premises servers were the obvious choice. And partnering with Software AG was a no-brainer.
Fast forward to 2024, and the cloud is the only player in town. “We decided two or three years ago that we should start the project that will see us move our software and business processes to the cloud,” says Jean-Marc. “It’s really the only option if we want to keep our data secure and make all our applications easy to use and updated for the long term.”
webMethods uses open, standards-based integration to make any application or database—on-premises and in the cloud—interoperable. Its combination of faster integration and scalability assures the seamless flow of data across automated processes by anyone, at any time, anywhere. For Maïsadour, it would mean APIs and data with a robust set of security features including gateway policies for granular access control, rate limiting, and encryption, plus monitoring and protection against DDoS and other attacks. In a world where 95% of companies have had an API security incident in the last year, and API attack traffic is growing all the time, that protection is invaluable.
The solution can be both hyperscaler ready and vendor agnostic if required: Maïsadour’s move to the cloud is based on Microsoft Azure. “We needed a solution that would manage the integration and data flows between our on-premises data and the Azure cloud, and which would support our decision to be API-first using other cloud vendors if required. Software AG’s webMethods fitted the bill perfectly.”
A business like Maïsadour, which encompasses the whole agricultural production process from seed to store, has a huge variety of integration needs. webMethods covers them all, offering the power of integrated cloud and legacy apps and connected intelligence with a smarter approach to integration. Its core integration layer gives the company freedom to develop the APIs it needs with vendors it trusts. It can launch new B2B services which enhance the customer experience securely, safe in the knowledge that governance simply won’t be an issue.
As Jean-Marc explains, “One of our biggest challenges was our exposed APIs across our eCommerce sites and stores, which cover payments as well as CRM. Integration is simple now—literally a couple of clicks and we can import whatever we need.” Just a few months after making the shift to the cloud, the company is already seeing unexpected benefits.
By unifying customer data, payments, and other touchpoints, webMethods allows seamless, secure customer interactions. Its secure gateway helps the company build, manage, secure, and monetize APIs quickly and effectively across their lifecycle, avoiding the common pitfalls that can come from uncontrolled API proliferation.
The agile microservices-backed architecture of webMethods gives companies like Maïsadour the ability to respond to new opportunities and ever-shifting customer demand by rolling out new capabilities faster than ever. Already, the company is becoming more aware of the value of its customer data as a revenue generator, explains Jean-Marc. “In the next two or three years we’re planning to be sharing more data and creating new services alongside our partners, which will mean an even bigger API ecosystem. webMethods will be an important part of making that happen.
Having made the decision to move into the cloud powered by webMethods, Maïsadour is determined to make the most of its new opportunities.
“We’re planning more and more cloud-native deployments. Our strategic plan is to align every aspect of our business—ERP, payments, CRM and more—in the cloud to make it better, more powerful, and more secure so our company is truly fit for the future. Entering the webMethods ecosystem has opened our eyes to what’s possible, what’s coming next and how we can leverage it. I’m excited to see how our future will unfold, but one thing is for certain: it will be in the cloud—and we’re ready for it”.
