Running a modern business of any size is a difficult matter. Even small businesses have tens of thousands of different business, marketing and operational applications.
These applications must work together seamlessly to facilitate the outcomes that are most crucial to the business. This is the purpose of business integration, which focuses on connecting and empowering all stakeholders in an ecosystem to work efficiently in a seamless way.
The right design is crucial to an effective business integration. Most often, integrations is developed using a coding style that makes it hard to modify the design. Poor design choices can result in a system that’s difficult to manage and maintain, and also costly to operate.
Traditionally, the majority of business integrations are focused on the integration of IT and software systems, including ERP and CRM solutions. This type of integration, called application integration, is typically done using APIs or other tools to enable connectivity between systems. These types of integrations are usually limited in scope and require a dedicated technical team at the site to maintain and manage.
The key to successful modern business integration is a more comprehensive approach that concentrates on integration at the business service level. This is achieved by mapping the business services to the proper technology. It also involves the development of the required elements of integration such as connectors data mappings, connectors, and an effective testing and deployment procedure in a controlled environment. Then, a process of monitoring and optimization is used to ensure that the integration meets the goals.