Running a modern-day business of any size is a complex matter. Even small businesses use hundreds of thousands of different business, marketing and operational applications.
These applications must work together seamlessly to help achieve the outcomes which are most important to the business. Business integration seeks to achieve this by enabling and connecting members of an ecosystem to function as one whole.
The most important factor in successful business integration is proper design from the start. A lot of times, an integration is designed using a coding style which makes it difficult to alter the design. These poor design choices can result in a system which is difficult to manage and maintain and also costly to run.
Traditionally, most business integrations have been focused on the integration of IT and software systems, such as ERP and other CRM solutions. This type of integration is called application integration. It is typically accomplished through APIs or other instruments that enable connectivity between systems. These kinds of integrations are generally limited in their capabilities and usually require a team of dedicated technical management onsite to maintain and manage them.
The key to achieving successful modern business integration is an integrated approach that focuses on business service-level integration. This is accomplished by mapping the business services to the proper technology. It also involves the development of the required integration components such as connectors, data mappings, and an effective testing and deployment process within a controlled environment. Following that, a monitoring process and optimization process is put in place to ensure that the business integration is in line with its goals.