Impact Summary
- Eliminated Manual Bottlenecks: Eradicated duplicate data entry and manual interventions through automated workflows.
- Real-Time Data Visibility: Provided sales and operations teams with instantaneous access to critical customer and product records.
- Zero Operational Downtime: Successfully modernized the enterprise technology stack without disrupting core, daily business transactions.
- Future-Proof Scalability: Established a reusable, API-led framework designed to easily onboard future digital platforms.
Customer Story
The organization is a leading, wholly Australian-owned central distributor and service provider operating within the animal health, veterinary, and pet care supply industry. It serves as a vital supply chain backbone for animal health professionals, pet retailers, and veterinarians across Australia, managing extensive product catalogs and high-volume transactions nationwide.
As the company expanded and adopted Salesforce, its legacy infrastructure became a major obstacle. Critical data remained isolated, and teams relied on slow batch processes and manual data entry. To improve operations, the company partnered with NJC Labs to build a modern integration foundation using MuleSoft. The team replaced outdated integration methods with a secure, real-time middleware layer. This approach successfully connected the mainframe with the cloud. Today, the business operates on an optimized platform with smooth data flow. Employees work more efficiently, the company gains more value from Salesforce, and the foundation supports future digital innovation.
Project Details
| Category | Details |
| Sector | Animal Health & Veterinary Supply Distribution |
| Tech Stack | MuleSoft, Salesforce, Legacy COBOL Mainframe (Berger) |
| Approach | API-Led Connectivity, Real-Time Data Synchronization |
Technical Challenges
Legacy System Limitations and COBOL System Modernization
The core business relied heavily on a decades-old mainframe system. While this platform remained highly dependable for standard transaction processing, it altogether lacked the inherent flexibility required to interface with modern cloud environments. Consequently, connecting this architecture with modern applications like Salesforce became exceptionally complex due to restrictive API capabilities and obsolete communication protocols.
Restrictive Data Silos
Critical customer, product, and order information resided almost exclusively within the legacy environment. Because these vital assets were trapped in rigid silos, business units frequently struggled to view real-time data from their primary Salesforce interface.
Absence of Legacy Data Synchronization
Information exchange across the enterprise relied entirely on rigid batch processes or manual interventions. As a result, the organization suffered from frequent delays, data inconsistencies, and disjointed records between the frontend CRM and backend repository.
The Solution
MuleSoft API Integration Middleware
Architects designed and deployed a centralized integration layer leveraging the MuleSoft platform to serve as a secure, high-performance middleware solution. This robust infrastructure established a reliable and structured communication bridge between the legacy mainframe and modern cloud systems.
API-Led Connectivity Architecture
To guarantee long-term asset reusability, the team implemented a strategic three-tier API-led connectivity model:
- System APIs: Developed specifically to ingest and interface directly with the underlying mainframe data.
- Process APIs: Designed to orchestrate complex business logic, handle formatting, and execute data transformations.
- Experience APIs: Engineered to securely expose clean data fields directly into Salesforce and peripheral channels.
Real-Time Enterprise System Connectivity
The architecture successfully enabled instant updates for core data areas, including client profiles, extensive product lists, pricing information, and order transactions. In addition, the team built advanced data mapping and transformation logic within MuleSoft to smoothly handle differences between legacy data models and Salesforce structures.
Business Results
Elevated Operational Efficiency
By removing manual tasks and introducing automatic, instant data updates, the organization successfully removed duplicate records and reduced delays and manual effort. As a result, business teams now process customer orders much faster and with significantly fewer errors.
Immediate Business Visibility
Sales, customer service, and operations departments gained complete visibility into live corporate data directly within Salesforce. This widespread data availability has markedly improved daily corporate decision-making and enhanced the overall customer service experience.
Maximized CRM Investment
Synchronizing the legacy mainframe with the cloud accelerated user adoption across the organization. Teams can now perform their daily tasks exclusively within a single, unified CRM platform, allowing the business to extract maximum value from its digital investments.
Looking Ahead
By creating a shared API-led framework, the company has built a flexible digital foundation for future innovation. The business is now prepared to use advanced data analysis, simplify complex processes, and integrate additional online sales or digital platforms without rebuilding code or affecting core system stability.