Do you want to know how to integrate your website with your business software? Business software integration allows easier communication between different systems. It allows you to follow data from one system, and get it onto another. This seamless connectivity is achieved through a variety of techniques including APIs, FTP, or email.
If you are integrating current applications with new ones, you need to make sure that the new system remains in sync with existing software. It is important that the existing application functionality is not modified, but the two systems must remain in sync. Business Software Integration offers a solution to smoothly integrate different software platforms so that they work efficiently.
Introduction to Software Integration
As a business continues to grow, executive teams may need to utilize multiple software solutions to improve their management. For example, if a clothing company’s consumer base is expanding, owners may implement inventory management and order optimization software to effectively meet demand.
When using more than one software subsystem for business functions, organizations need to adopt an integration tool to synchronize their disparate data sources. This will allow top leaders and managers to practice effective data management and will understand the full scope of their business.
What Is System Integration
System integration is the process of connecting the software (often disparate systems) that manages various business processes and workflows. Essentially, it’s linking together various IT systems, so that businesses can work more efficiently.
The end result reduces manual tasks and errors from data entry, saving businesses time and money. Lots of time and money.
Data Is The Advantage
This isn’t news to anyone. But how vital a role data plays in the success of a company has been and continues to be overlooked. Many companies are failing to become data-driven.
More often, one can easily gauge the future success of companies by whether or not they can adequately capture, and more importantly, use customer data to their advantage.
When a company can more accurately paint a picture of their customers and their needs, they can better tailor an experience that speaks to their customer base. With a single customer view, they can address those specific needs, strengthening the bond between customer and brand through service.
Businesses that can’t provide this increased level of support, those that can’t or refuse to cater to their customers’ precise needs, those that struggle to respond, and those that rely on generalizations or hunches, will fail. Their customers choose businesses that do over them.
And yet, the solution isn’t as simple as just gathering more data. It’s not as straightforward as implementing more SaaS applications. Nor is it as easy as connecting more devices. Instead, it has to do with rethinking how your business stores and moves data.
Siloing Data Creates Bottlenecks
In every business rests the desire to integrate data seamlessly across all platforms. And yet, for too long, companies have attempted to juggle several different information siloes with growing problems. We’re now at a point where the massive inflow of more data means that a company has to move beyond siloing data if it wants to succeed.
SaaS applications bring new problems for data management. Some systems can interact with a company’s current ERP, others can’t. When that happens, a business usually needs a custom system integration for the app to connect to existing systems.
The Risk of Manual Tasks
Manual data capture invites costly errors. Manual data entry is a menial task few enjoy. Efforts result in duplicate, incomplete, or even lost data. Data errors are also expensive.
The Harvard business review estimates that it costs the US roughly $3 trillion each year. That’s because not only does fixing errors require time, it can lead businesses to costly mistakes.
Businesses need a strategy that allows them to stay current with the latest applications while collecting and implementing data in a way that paints a single customer view, all while avoiding IT backlogs, data bottlenecks, and massive costs. AND that information must move from on-premise, cloud, mobile, and IoT systems seamlessly.
These problems, inherent in using the growing streams of data, prevent many companies from taking the necessary steps towards adapting to the digital transformation.
Fortunately, system integration provides a solution.
What Is a System Integration and iPaaS
Integration Platform as a Solution (iPaaS) is the solution for a business struggling to connect their business processes. In short, it’s an alternative to traditional, built-from-scratch integrations that businesses shy away from due to the cost.
In our competitive business environment, there is a great deal of SaaS companies offering amazing products. But, they don’t usually connect well with each other. iPaaS gives you the freedom to choose the best apps for your business and easily connect them using the platform.
How Does iPaaS Work?
To best see how iPaaS works, it helps to picture a hypothetical. Let’s imagine you’re a retailer. You use Salesforce for your CRM, WorkDay for your HRM, and Azule for various other tasks while also managing APIs for several IoT devices throughout the company. Without iPaaS, you would have to dedicate team members to input data streams from these applications manually.
Maybe you already do…
And that’s when spreadsheets start to pile up.
This takes what would be a streamlined process and turns it into a time-intensive, unnecessarily complex, error-bound chore. It also limits the flexibility of this data across the business model as a whole, limiting your insight, and inhibiting your ability to plan more accurate paths to success.
IPaaS bypasses all of this.
The solution involves working with an iPaaS vendor that helps you integrate the applications you need into your existing business software infrastructure. With the right iPaaS vendor, you’ll either have access to connectors or you can request a specific build for a fraction of the cost and time. The end result is a company that seamlessly integrates various applications that benefit the company as a whole.
9 Benefits iPaaS Offers
There are significant, numerous benefits to using iPaaS. Fully understanding the role iPaaS can play in growing your business will position you for future success while staying ahead of the digital transformation.
Here are a few ways iPaaS can give your company the edge:
1. Easy to Use
Many vendors use browsers to implement system integrations. Through graphical interfaces, anyone can easily connect processes together without looking at any code.
2. Comparatively Low Cost
It’s much cheaper to work with an iPaaS vendor with access to multiple connectors for various APIs than it is to backlog your IT department with an endless list of build requests. Businesses only need to pay for a subscription service to the platform rather than paying an IT department to build connections from scratch.
3. Faster Than Traditional Software Development
Typical IT solutions can take weeks or months to complete. An iPaaS vendor will most likely already have several of the solutions you need on stand by. And they’re able to build custom connections far more rapidly.
4. More Efficient Workflows
IPaaS automates tasks. Successful implementation leads to less time wasted on menial tasks like repetitive data entry. Computers are simply better at processing these tasks faster.
5. Better Business Practices
Automation frees up employees to undergo complex, time-consuming tasks, such as customer support or strategic processes. With more time available to employees, businesses can position themselves above the competition.
6. Highly-Effective Data Integration
With a more dynamic and accurate perspective of gathered data, businesses can avoid costly mistakes by making truly data-backed decisions.
7. More Accurate Customer Data
With more accurate data comes a clearer picture. Being able to pull data from multiple sources while eliminating errors and duplications, presents a clear customer profile that businesses can more directly serve.
8. Scalable Cost
Cost scales with use, making iPaaS an affordable option for growing businesses. And it’s usually at a much cheaper rate than expanding/building an IT department or regularly outsourcing from-scratch integration builds.
9. Secure
Cloud-based systems have an added element of security that on-premise systems lack. This is because many businesses lack the resources to deploy more advanced cybersecurity and physical security measures.
3 Questions to Ask About Software Integration
Software integration can be a complicated process, especially if a company utilizes many software systems or have separate big data sources. Before syncing data together with an integration tool, organization leaders should first answer the 3 key questions to ensure proper unification.
1. What Type of Software Needs to be Integrated?
Large-scale companies typically use in-house software, which is a solution that a corporate entity created for an organization. Many businesses will also use software-as-a-service (SaaS) solutions. These are cloud-based applications that are centrally hosted and are typically sold to businesses on a subscription basis. The following are the most common SaaS systems that businesses often utilize.
- Inventory management software
- Inventory ordering optimization
- Employee management software
- Employee scheduling software
- Online document signing solutions
- Point-of-sale systems
- Reporting and analytics tools
These software solutions can typically be integrated to streamline business functions.
2. What Integration Tool Does the Business Need?
When using in-house software, businesses will typically need a team of engineers or specialists to integrate systems. However, SaaS solutions can be connected with the use of Application Programming Interface (API) integration, which are tools within a system.
With APIs, companies can use native integrations. This is when data is moved to another system within an app. They can also use solutions, such as Integration Platforms as a Service (iPaaS), which can link disparate software using cloud technology.
Some organizations may also need a tool that provides either one-way or two-way integrations. The former refers to when data is migrated from one app to another. A two-way integration, on the other hand, is when multiple databases are all synced with the same information.
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3. Which Type of Data Requires Integration?
Data can encompass a variety of information, from metrics to product names. To begin system integration, managers need to identify what forms of data they need to collect. With this understanding, it will be easier to determine which software needs to be integrated together.
For example, a company wants to have a detailed look into their customers’ behavior and preferences. To do so, they should compile data about the shopper’s historical purchases, buying patterns, and transactions. This can be done by integrating the company’s customer relationship management (CRM) system and the point-of-sale (POS) software since these apps contain key consumer data.
Why is Software Integration Necessary?
Organizations may need to integrate their software systems for a variety of reasons, depending on their size and demands.
- Merging Disparate Systems
Companies that use multiple systems to manage their inventory, employees, and data reports, for example, will need an integration tool. For example, a retail store that uses a point-of-sale system may integrate it with inventory management software. This will help them track their stock levels in real-time, maintain optimal quantities of merchandise in their store, and make replenishments in a timely manner.
- Migrating from Legacy Systems to Modern Apps
Legacy systems refer to outdated methods or technology. To ensure data security, save money, and boost accessibility, many businesses have been adopting more modern software applications. They will often use an integration tool that helps with integrating data from the legacy system to modern apps.
- Increasing Functionality
When syncing software systems together, organizations can experience an increase in functionality. For example, connecting an employee scheduling system to the human resource software will automate payroll processes and ensure pay accuracy. By increasing functionality, the business can optimize its processes and prevent technology silos.
Types of Software Integration
When performing software integration, management teams should consider the 4 main methods.
1. Star Integration
Star integration is the process of developing connections within all software subsystems. Its name comes from the fact that when all the systems are interconnected, its diagram would look like a star. Depending on the number of systems that are being integrated, its links may also look like spaghetti. Therefore, this method is sometimes referred to as the spaghetti method.
This type of integration is considered efficient because teams can reuse software functionalities. However, when businesses need to add new subsystems, they will need to spend a significant amount of time and money to perform the integration.
2. Horizontal Integration
A horizontal integration, also known as the Enterprise Service Bus, is the method of establishing a system for communication. Its main feature is message transmission and message monitoring. It also provides services, such as data transformation and mapping. Additionally, horizontal integrations will reduce the number of links for each subsystem. This approach will allow for flexibility, in which teams can add, remove, or adjust a system without interrupting the rest of the components.
This type of software integration works well for businesses that have many large, disparate systems. It is also cost-efficient to utilize this method because the expense of integration will become less expensive as the system expands. Therefore, horizontal integration can help businesses in the long run.
3. Vertical Integration
In contrast to horizontal integration, vertical integration is a short-term solution and is considered a fast and inexpensive option for software unification. For this method, the company must develop functional entities for their software systems and vertically sync them.
Vertical integrations can provide many benefits, such as better control over business processes and maximized competitiveness. For retailers, it can also help streamline supply chain management, improve vendor communication, and reduce operating costs. However, vertical integrations will create a silo to scale the software. This means that information will not be properly shared and will be isolated in each system.
4. Common Data Format Integration
A common data format is an approach to software integration that allows businesses to avoid the use of an adapter when converting or transporting data. For this method to be effective, the data format from one system must be accepted by the other system. Common data format integration can help businesses by providing data translation and promoting automation.
Conclusion
Integrating business software with each other is a very difficult and time-consuming procedure, and it may cause some errors, which you’ll need to resolve. Nowadays, there are still ways to integrate business software with different applications, but the process will go much easier and quicker when using specialized tools that make integration simple or even automate it.