Salesforce is acquiring Servicetrace, a robotic process automation (RPA) provider headquartered in Darmstadt, Germany. When the deal closes, Servicetrace will become part of Salesforce-owned MuleSoft.
The announcement came in a blog by Brent Hayward, CEO, MuleSoft. Hayward did not disclose the terms of the deal but expects it to close by the end of the Salesforce third quarter (October 31, 2021).
Founded in 2004, Servicetrace has three product lines: Robotic Process Automation, Application Performance Monitoring and Automated Software Testing. It has grown organically, without funding and was a visionary in the most recent Gartner magic quadrant for RPA (September 2020).
There’s no shortage of vendors in the RPA market, but what sets Servicetrace apart is its combination of integration, API management, and automation, according to Hayward. The company leverages technologies that include image recognition, pattern search, and AI-assisted optical character recognition to recognize graphical user interfaces like a human, allowing customers to drag, drop, and customize automation workflows through backend dashboards. Once deployed, Servicetrace’s software robots can be configured to work in hidden and access-secure sessions, ensuring a baseline level of security.
According to Salesforce’s Trends in Workflow Automation report, 95 percent of IT and engineering leaders say their organizations are prioritizing workflow automation. RPA adoption has exploded because it empowers business users to automate business processes easily without needing specialized development skills.
“With the addition of Servicetrace, MuleSoft will be able to deliver a leading unified integration, API management, and RPA platform, which will further enrich the Salesforce Customer 360 — empowering organizations to deliver connected experiences from anywhere. The new RPA capabilities will enhance Salesforce’s Einstein Automate solution, enabling end-to-end workflow automation across any system for Service, Sales, Industries, and more,” said Hayward.