RSSBus Connect, a spin-off company of CData Software, was born in 2006 and has continued to grow rapidly over the years—including nearly 80% last year alone.
“The last year or two there has been considerable growth,” said Mike Albritton, managing director of RSSBus Connect. “A large part of that growth is because of a change in the UI features to make it easier to build integrations for customers. We have a lot of the same technology but make it easier for users with the drag and drop interface.”
RSSBus Connect—which like its parent company is based in Chapel Hill—focuses on the need for speed by providing clients with high-performance, reliable and straightforward processes to integrate, produce and consume data.
A single-product company, RSSBus is an integration platform that focuses on moving data and processes across an organization quickly and securely, said Eric Madariaga, the CMO of CData.
The company grew after there was a greater need for a niche application that served different markets ranging from retail and supply chain integration to health care integration.
The application provides a visual workflow builder that makes it easy to move data for the purposes of electronic data interchanging (EDI), a standard method companies use to exchange data with business partners, Madariaga said, while CData focuses on providing data connectivity solutions to support corporate information technology teams and “big data,” AI and analytics use cases.
After bootstrapping the company, the product grew from a free trial straight into the marketplace. There were requests for connectivity capabilities and different applications and in recent months, the RSSBus application was published on Amazon’s AWS marketplace.
The company also plans to have it on Microsoft’s marketplace in the near future as well.
“User interfaces used to require code writing and scripts,” Madariaga said, “but RSSBus has a drag and drop interface that allows you to open a window and see a list of connectivity options. For example, you can drop Facebook into the workflow and from that, you have options for outputs that you could drag and connect to other things. So every time someone sends a Facebook message they could also send an email or message to someone else.”
While that example was a commercial, social way to use the product, there are other significant data processes that RSSBus can assist.
“A lot of these applications are from legacy technologies that RSSBus modernizes,” Madariaga said. “It brings in technology that is faster and provides the user with an easier experience.”
As far as the future, the sky is the limit, Albritton said. As companies want to consume and use data, RSSBus’ presence is only going to get bigger. The company plans to expand its application integration and ease of use while broadening its reach across geographies, Madariaga said.
“Our simple, easy connectivity between applications and systems is what sets us apart,” Madariaga said. “With enough time and effort people could connect through an integration code, but we make it easy and fast for people to do that connectivity and maintain it over time.”
With over tens of thousands of customers globally in all types of organizations from automotive companies to retail, RSSBus’ services can range from $500 to as much as $5,000-$10,000 depending on how many connections they’re using.
“There are two targets for us: the EDI and general integration, which is a much newer and larger opportunity for us,” said Albritton. “Our goal is to disrupt what companies are used to in the EDI space but also be a part of the growing integration space.”