Most enterprise IT environments have a complex landscape involving on-premise hardware, private and public clouds, multiple applications, databases, and more. Enterprise integration is the practice of integrating business data and services across all those systems. Strong integration uncovers hidden insights into customers and markets that no one system on its own can provide. As a result, enterprise integration gives you data worth more than the sum of its parts.
Why is enterprise integration important?
Enterprise integration is one of the most important activities any organization in any market segment can undertake. It enhances the value of critical business processes and applications. The combination of important data allows a company to scale up to the challenges of its market, allowing for better customer reach and increased revenue.
Here are some of the ways that enterprise integration makes it all happen:
Streamlining IT
Enterprise integration combines the functionality and information available in separate applications. This connectivity simplifies processes for both IT and the company's end users. IT organizations appreciate streamlining data and services while the users get more data (and get it faster). Internal and external communications are approved in a tightly integrated environment.
Improved information flow
Enterprise integrations enable data flow in ways that weren't possible before. With integrations acting as the glue connecting various applications, application developers can expose the interfaces and data of multiple applications without knowing the ins and outs of the apps they work with.
Increased business opportunities
By harnessing data at all available endpoints, employees can better see the market trends. Teams working with integrated data are empowered to see the bigger picture and react quicker to ever-changing conditions.
The key elements of enterprise integration
Here are the elements that make enterprise integration possible:
- Data is the important information contained across various applications. Data collected in an integrated environment is used for analysis and metrics to gain insights that weren't available otherwise.
- Application programming interfaces (APIs) enable data transfers across disparate systems. APIs share the services and data of an application with any other server, making them one of the key components of any integration strategy.
- Messaging shares and delivers information both within and outside of network boundaries.
- Events are simply records of an action or a change. When one application or service takes action or undergoes a change, that is an event. Other systems can then detect and act on that event by performing their own actions. This chain reaction is key to building value in an integrated environment.
- iPaaS is the acronym for integration platform as a service. An iPaaS is a cloud service that ties together all the functions and processes of managing APIs in a service-oriented architecture. Cloud-to-cloud, cloud-to-on-premise, on-premise-to-on-premise, and B2B integrations are all supported.
Current trends in enterprise integrations
Investing in an iPaaS
The integration platform as a service (iPaas) is being adopted by enterprises at an accelerating rate. Businesses in all industries are seeing the value in integrating data from vendors, customers, and stakeholders, and investing in an iPaaS is one of the best options for getting started. As most iPaaS systems offer integrations with CRM systems and other customer-centric applications, this is one of the quickest ways to start gaining more data that has the potential for increased revenue.
Real-time integrations
Real-time data integration is quickly becoming a must-have in all industries now. By making connections that are not readily apparent when data is separated across multiple endpoints, real-time integrated data enables a company to gain insight and quickly react to the latest events in their market space.
Machine learning and AI
Thanks to machine learning and AI technologies, mundane and repetitive tasks are quickly automated. In several areas, AI makes a lot of sense in data integration efforts. Some tasks prime for automation include adjusting pricing based on market fluctuations, identifying supply chain disruptions, and fraud detection. All of these efforts are stronger when based on real-time integrated data.
Identifying and removing data silos
Data silos have been the bane of IT groups and their end users for years. Important company data hidden away in text files and specialty-use applications would get lost, unknown except to the employees who use the systems. Enterprise integrations promise to make data silos a thing of the past. A good integration strategy will note where potential silos exist and how they can be eliminated.
Codal is here to make enterprise integrations easy
There are many tools and approaches to making enterprise integrations a reality. But finding what's right for your business is a different task altogether. Planning, implementing, and maintaining an enterprise integration strategy requires expert guidance. The award-winning team here at Codal is ready to guide you through the process.
Our team will evaluate your current digital landscape, identify the tools and processes needed for successful integration, and build a custom solution that perfectly fits your business. To get the most out of your data and gain the competitive edge you need, get in touch with a member of our team today!
