As PaaS grows in popularity, we’re seeing a great deal of innovation take place amongst those companies that are involved in this necessary industry.  Launching two new services today is PaaS and online database provider, LongJump.  Javelin and Relay are the appropriately named new features, which boost its cloud platform designed around helping companies immediately turn their data into custom apps.  In these emerging days of the social enterprise, we’re going to see a lot more services follow suite, creating simplified processes for businesses to utilize their existing data for cloud-based solutions.

What LongJump’s updates offer is an integrated platform with social and mobile capabilities, enabling companies to extend their data to an agnostic, central location that’s accessible to entire teams.  It’s a big perk in an era of IT consumerization, as more companies recognize the benefits and needs around making data readily available to connected workers.  Thanks to tablets, virtualized desktops and the rise of the mobile worker, unifying communications is just the beginning of the long-term solution around sharing data smartly in the cloud.

With Relay and Javelin, a business can create an app by simply importing an Exel document, or copying and pasting text into LongJump (among other ways).  Changes can be made immediately, not only to the document itself but the processes around it.  Set permissions, add alerts, initiate rules and flowcharts around a given app, so that managers can be notified when employees have entered certain data sets, or changes have been made.  With LongJump’s new app delivery platform, you can follow the data just as you would a Twitter user, share files and links, and more.

Mobile access is a necessity for LongJump’s complete solution, with availability on the iPhone and iPad, Android devices and any other touch tablet.  Through the mobile app team members can access tasks, apps, the social stream, and even edit on the fly.  There’s a whiteboard for the creation of actions, flow charts and approval processes, maintaining control over the content itself as well as a team’s operational standards.

Companies want to create apps

“Almost every company we talk to today, they want to make an app,” LongJump’s Pankaj Malviya tells me.  “One of the biggest constraints is the resources to do that, and make their data mobile.  They have to use separate apps.”

For LongJump, a big differentiating factor here is the data import options for quickly creating apps and centralize document formats, making it a cost effective alternative to things like Salesforce, and more controlled an environment than Google Docs.  There’s no additional programing or programs, no third party apps or customization needed (though you can customize the apps to your heart’s desire).  An independent offering, LongJump’s new features combine LinkedIn, Microsoft Office and Salesforce into its own “private cloud” solution.

One example of LongJump’s perks is outlined by BMA Marketing, a company that started in 2008.  With a bootstrapped budget, BMA found Salesforce at the time quite expensive, and turned to LongJump as a wallet-friendly solution.  Founder Chris Swanson was familiar with database architecture, and LongJump’s services were something he’d envisioned for years.  The ability to customize apps around his existing data kept his small team working collaboratively, setting up triggers for their workflow needs and actually putting his data to work.

At the risk of sounding like a LongJump salesman, Swanson went on to tell me that a major deciding factor for even trying LongJump was its free trial option, which doesn’t require a credit card to set up.  it’s certainly an important distinction in today’s enterprise environment, where cloud services are clamoring for the SMB market, throwing out several different tactics not only around their products, but around monetization.

In all, extending the cloud is no longer reserved for large enterprises or those with deep pockets.  Layering in more functionality to PaaS offerings is an important development in the consumerization of IT, and as we all seek higher levels of efficiency around collaboration, the more valuable PaaS becomes.