Modern Business Integration
Running an effective business of any size is a difficult matter. Even small companies use hundreds or even dozens of marketing, business, and operational applications to function.
The applications must function seamlessly to help achieve the outcomes that are most important to the business. Business integration is a strategy to achieve this by connecting and enabling members of an ecosystem to work as a whole.
The right design is crucial to a successful business integration. In many cases, an integration is built using a coding style which makes it difficult to change the design. Poor design choices can lead to a system which is difficult to maintain and run, and also other costly.
Traditionally, most business integrations have been focused on connecting IT and software systems, such as ERP and CRM solutions. This kind of integration, also known as application integration, is usually performed with APIs or other tools to allow connectivity between systems. These types of integrations tend to be limited in scope and require a dedicated technical management team on the site to maintain and manage.
The most important factor in modern business integration success is an approach that is holistic and focuses primarily on the integration of business services. This is achieved by mapping the business functions to the appropriate technology. This also includes the creation of the components required for integration, including connectors and data mappings. A robust testing and deployment process is also necessary in a controlled setting. Then, a monitoring process and optimization is implemented to ensure that the business integration meets its goals.