AWS launches AppFabric, a generative AI tool to help curb sprawl of SaaS applications

Amazon Web Services Inc. today announced a new no-code service called AWS AppFabric designed to curb the complexity of software-as-a-service application sprawl.

AWS AppFabric enables enterprises to connect multiple SaaS applications into one console for improved security, management, and productivity. Announced today at AWS Applications Innovation Day. It helps you integrate multiple SaaS apps and provides a consolidated view of application usage, eliminating the need to build customized integrations.

Amazon.com Inc.’s cloud division commonly uses dozens, or even hundreds, of different SaaS applications across enterprises for myriad tasks such as communications, content management, finance, and customer relations. I explained that it was targeted. The problem is that these SaaS apps are rarely compatible with each other, resulting in many security and productivity challenges. For example, each SaaS app has its own controls, logs, and interfaces.

To get around this, many enterprise teams build point-to-point integrations for every SaaS application they use, a task that can take months. Integration challenges include the jumble of application programming interfaces and data formats used by each app. All of this makes it difficult to analyze SaaS data and track how those apps are being used.

With AppFabric, AWS wants to change that. At launch, it will connect 12 third-party SaaS apps, including popular products like Asana, Atlassian, Dropbox, Okta, Slack, Smartsheet, Webex, and Zoom, allowing companies to manage them from one place within his AWS management console. make it possible. According to AWS, the list of supported apps will be expanded over time as more are added.

The advantage of doing this is that AppFabric can create a standardized set of security and operational data for all connected SaaS apps, giving you better visibility into how those apps are being used. That’s it. In this way, organizations can gain insights to improve productivity, reduce operating costs and strengthen security, he said.

AppFabric is launching today and will soon benefit from additional generative artificial intelligence capabilities powered by Amazon Bedrock, a service that makes popular base models available and customizable through APIs.

The idea is that generative AI can reduce the time it takes employees to switch between different applications to get information or complete a specific task. For example, employees often switch between apps to copy and paste data from various sources to create reports. AppFabric’s generated AI is intended to help you easily complete tasks such as writing meeting notes, drafting update emails, and creating project updates.

The generated content can be delivered in a format appropriate for the specific app being used. As an example, AWS said users can create tasks in her Asana that pull details from sources such as email threads, Slack conversations, and word processing documents to her AI. . AppFabric’s AI assistants take advantage of integrations with these apps to complete tasks for users.

AppFabric can also aggregate and normalize data for SaaS apps through the Open Cybersecurity Schema Framework, making it accessible to security tools such as Logz.io, Netskope, Netwitness, Rapid7 and Splunk.

Holger Mueller of Constellation Research Inc. said AppFabric can be thought of as a “cross-SaaS domain service” that allows for tighter integration of SaaS software products and brings some interesting new features to users. .

“It allows users to automate how they use and manage their SaaS products in some interesting ways, and it’s very easy to do because it’s low-code,” the analyst said. “AWS is helping more companies master the destiny of automation, and as it’s 2023, of course, we will soon have generative AI-based assistants to make our users’ lives even easier. ”

Dilip Kumar, Vice President of AWS Applications, said AppFabric solves a big pain point for information technology and security teams. “With AppFabric, customers and partners have a simple solution to deploy and scale the world’s most widely used applications in ways that help organizations reduce costs, increase productivity, and improve security. ,” he said.

AWS AppFabric is now generally available in Amazon’s US East (N. Virginia), EU (Ireland), and Asia Pacific (Tokyo) Regions, with additional regions coming soon.

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