By Steve Lucas
I’m a big believer in universal truths. These are the basic things in life that we all can agree upon. For instance, take communication. When people can communicate better, they’re capable of solving complex problems. It’s something I’ve seen my entire life.
Here’s another truth. The technology systems that we build to run our businesses also work better when they communicate. They’re just like people. Fantastic things are possible when applications, data, and devices are connected. Companies become more efficient, profitable, and likely to perform amazing feats to change the world.
That idea first drew me to Boomi a year ago this week. I believe that technology must serve a purpose: Accelerating business outcomes. And that’s exactly what Boomi does. Our platform fuels the power of communication to solve the fundamental problem all businesses struggle with on their digital transformation journey — integration.
Here’s why Boomi was irresistible to me. Foundational systems like SAP, Microsoft, Salesforce, Oracle, and so on don’t talk to each other very well. It’s just a fact. Yet businesses won’t thrive if they aren’t communicating. Boomi integrates everything and automates processes better than any other platform I’ve ever seen. In a way, Boomi is like Google Translate, synchronizing systems so they “speak” a common language.
That’s not just incredibly powerful – it’s transformative.
This is why I’m more confident than ever that we’re building something special at Boomi. We’re the ideal solution to power transformation because everyone needs integration.
So, I want to reflect for a moment on my first whirlwind 12 months at Boomi and share where I see us heading.
World-Changing Customers
Long before I arrived, Boomi created the cloud integration platform market. I’m not a fan of acronyms, but that whole iPaaS (integration platform as a service) category? It’s the result of Boomi’s innovation and why we now have about 20,000 customers worldwide. What I have witnessed firsthand is how our company has taken even bigger strides toward becoming an iconic brand.
I’ve traveled the world and spoken to hundreds of business leaders in more than 20 countries who all recognize that overcoming the barriers separating their systems is critical. Here’s my takeaway: They all want the success that Boomi customers already see.
They want to be like Cochlear, which enables people to hear and be heard with innovative implants thanks to the help of Boomi. They’re eager to learn how Boomi was instrumental in enabling the Australian Red Cross to host a national telethon in just five days, raising millions for those suffering from devastating floods in 2022. They want to know how Boomi connects 2,000 different systems for one of the world’s largest beverage manufacturers.
I’m always thrilled to talk about the remarkable achievements of our customers. The scope of how they’re using Boomi is unparalleled because our platform connects more than 300,000 unique things. We integrate everything from complex systems to niche technologies that always have to work – like heart defibrillators. Name an endpoint, and Boomi connects it.
Here’s something else I love to do: Brag about the people who make Boomi amazing. There have been several milestones during the most successful year in Boomi’s history that have made me proud. Here are just a few.
First-rate Leadership Team
Over the past year, we’ve assembled a powerhouse executive team worthy of the Boomi workforce. I could talk at length about each one. But I’ll simply highlight that our collection of leaders has unparalleled experience at top high-growth companies and that some have joined us from direct competitors. They’re all here for one reason: They recognize that Boomi is the dominant force in integration and want to be part of our growth trajectory.
That kind of leadership has contributed to our ability to grow the Boomi team by more than 500 talented team members in the last year and expand our global footprint with offices in Vancouver and Barcelona.
Groundbreaking Innovation
Last January, I challenged the team to build a solution that uses simple conversational experiences to autonomously integrate systems and automate processes faster – and deliver it by the end of 2023. In October, we launched production-ready Boomi GPT, the first offering in our Boomi AI suite.
With Boomi AI, businesses can leverage an in-house, proprietary large language model guided by the over 200 million anonymized integrations we’ve curated over the years. That means you can type into Boomi, “Create a lead-to-cash process, go!” and it will give you options based on real-world examples gleaned from that wealth of crowdsourced data – in real time, with no consultants required. Now that’s powerful stuff.
Going from concept to a world-class (and soon-to-be patented) product requires the kind of innovation I’ve never seen in my three decades in software. It’s the result of the passion, hard work, and dedication that fuel our company culture.
While Boomi AI garnered the lion’s share of media headlines, we also produced a torrent of other product innovations. These include Event Streams to enable businesses to create even more resilient and scalable integrations, Boomi Spaces to expand the power of integration to non-technical teams, and new security and privacy certifications for best-in-class governance.
If you blinked, you risked missing something new from Boomi.
The Business World Is Noticing
When you’re driving transformation, you know it’s working when you can see the plan come together. As the year progressed, I noticed more and more how world-class organizations reached out to us because they wanted Boomi as the centerpiece of their integration and automation operations. They want our help becoming AI-ready. They see where we’re heading, the coming attractions on our roadmap, and the people we have in place to make it all happen.
I say that with confidence because I’ve been down this path before. I’ve been part of explosive growth at business titans like Salesforce and SAP, and as CEO of game-changing software companies Marketo and iCIMS. I know how it feels when the business reaches a critical mass and is ready to rocket to vertigo-inducing heights.
That’s precisely where Boomi is today.
As we reach $500M annual recurring revenue (ARR), we know it’s a rare achievement. But we’re more focused on what that number represents – our customers. They’re using Boomi to help them make an impact.
Our mission, every single day, is to continue delivering the intelligent integration and automation foundation that our customers can build upon as they aspire to do great things. My first year will quickly get smaller in the rearview mirror. But I can see through the giant windshield in front of me that Boomi is speeding toward an even more exciting future.
This post was initially published on LinkedIn.