Friends with Business Benefits: How Integrations Sell Apps – SXSW Panel

A terrific panel on the Small Business Web was recorded at South by Southwest Festival in Austin, Texas.

What is an integrated web application?

Integrated web applications "talk" to each other so that your data gets exchanged between other web applications. For example, your online ticket purchasing application (say Formstack) sends data to your email marketing application (say Madmimi) so that you can follow up with buyers later with an email newsletter.

A description from the website:

The Small Business Web is now over 100 web app companies strong. Together, we're rewriting the rules for traditional business development by building the market for small business software through integrations. So how has it not devolved into fisticuffs and mayhem? And why does integration help both the consumers and the vendors who are building the applications? Members of the Small Business Web will discuss the power of the open API, why customers buy apps that integrate, how they're embracing their competition and why sometimes even they have to remember to "Hug It Out" as they work together to define the future of the Small Business Web.

About the author

Alex is a pioneer in using the cloud to meet the needs of small and medium sized business (SMBs) and membership-based organizations. He has a BSc in computer science from the University of Michigan and has worked as a product manager at two Internet startups. Alex is a father of 2 and plays the trumpet for fun. He is the founder and the president of the University of Michigan Alumni Club of Toronto.