Category: IT

How IT Teams are Dealing with Enterprise Integration

Posted on October 3, 2022 by - Enterprise Integration Solutions, IT

Today’s enterprise development professionals face new and greater challenges than their predecessors. Demand for digital transformation projects is spiking as organizations strive to maintain a competitive edge in a global, digital-first market. At the same time, budgets are tightening, and skilled developers and system architects are in short supply.

Enterprise integration architecture is being pushed down the ever-growing queue of technology projects IT teams face. Development teams are feeling the pressure as they balance regular systems maintenance with new tasks and innovation, often with only a skeleton crew. And no matter how hard they work, they’re often viewed by other departments as a roadblock to progress rather than business enablers.

But this is why integration is important. Legacy strategies and solutions simply cannot address the enterprise issues of today. So how are developers and system architects dealing with these challenges? What role do they play in enterprise integration strategy, and what will it mean for their departments?

>> Book a personalized demo with our team of experts and see how Digibee’s iPaaS will bring efficiency to your business. 

Is IT Responsible for Integration?

Enterprise integration can be a game-changer for companies – but it’s no small task. Where does the responsibility of handling the challenges of integration land?

Interestingly, 50% of enterprises expect to rely on internal development teams to implement their integration strategy, but there is some disconnect about who the key player will be. In general, most enterprise IT professionals are relatively evenly split on whether the ultimate responsibility lies with the development team or the C-suite. But when we dig a little deeper, we find disparities between responses from those two groups:

  • 65% of CIOs feel the C-suite is the main stakeholder in integration
  • 72% of developers/architects think IT is the main stakeholder

Determining integration best practices and addressing implementation challenges might not be easy if internal stakeholders can’t agree on who plays the key role.

Implementation of Integration is Lagging

Successful implementation of enterprise integration architecture still eludes the majority of large organizations. Most enterprise development teams are still working without the benefits integration can offer – a problem that will only worsen as staff shortages climb and the urgency to execute digital transformation strategy climbs.

71%

actively planning to adopt new integration technology in 2023

79%

report that system downtime was significant,
impactful, and more than expected

75%

rely on integration to resolve IT backlog projects

59%

reported spending up to one quarter
of their IT budget on integration

*Data in this table, originally published in October 2022, was updated to reflect data from the 2023 State of Enterprise Integration Report published in April, 2023.

More concerning still, in 2022, the majority of enterprises who have yet to implement an integration solution (94%) aren’t even considering a specific enterprise integration solution.

Why is Integration Important?

Despite low execution numbers, 57% of organizations say integration is critical to their business strategy, and 93% acknowledge their organization would benefit from it. But why?

Piecemeal Approaches are Failing

Without an integration strategy in place, many IT teams have been forced to resort to short-term fixes for immediate problems at the expense of long-term development solutions. This tactic has only increased the amount of time developers spend on maintenance and crisis response rather than building for the future. 98% of organizations have had to rebuild business-critical integrations in the last year.

Number of key applications running

35%: 1-3
49%: 4-6
10%: 7-9

Number of integrations rebuilt in the last 12 months

50%: 1-5
48%: 6-10
1%: More than 10

Lack of Integration has Negative Effects

Many aspects of business operations and growth can suffer when enterprise integration is absent or poorly implemented. A lack of integration can 

  • Hamper efforts to innovate (48%)
  • Decrease efficiency (48%)
  • Slow response time to market changes (40%)
  • Waste organizational resources (37%)

The first and last issues on this list – hampering innovation and wasting resources – can trap enterprise developers and system architects in a continuous loop. The inability to adopt new technology solutions leaves them stuck maintaining and troubleshooting legacy systems. At a time when skilled developers are in short supply, this waste of resources limits the company’s ability to adopt new tech to support innovation.

Overcome the Challenges of Integration with Digibee

Developers and systems architects want to be the operational heroes that help their organization meet and exceed business goals, not an under-appreciated team other departments only think of when something goes wrong. Enterprise integration architecture can help IT departments eliminate data silos, remove innovation roadblocks, and demonstrate their value to the business.

But alignment from all stakeholders and a clear understanding of best practices, what works, and what won’t are key to leveraging the benefits and overcoming the challenges of integration.

The second annual State of Enterprise Integration Report from Digibee can help. We talked to over 1,000 CIOs, web developers, and system architects from enterprises across the US to gain a deep understanding of the challenges they face and the tactics they’re using. The report gives you a comprehensive, data-based look into current and future trends, as well as guidance on integration best practices.

Download your free copy today

How to Choose the Right Enterprise Integration Tools

Posted on September 22, 2022 by - Enterprise Integration Solutions, IT

A critical factor in enterprise success today is the ability to respond quickly to change. You might be adapting to the next pandemic, a new technology, or a shift in your industry, but whatever the challenge, you must be able to pivot quickly.

That means having all your data and systems available where and when you need them. And for many of today’s organizations, it means figuring out how to integrate legacy systems and siloed data.

With only 6% of enterprise IT professionals confirming their organization has successfully implemented an integration strategy, it’s clear that many businesses are still in the planning stage. [1]

Like any significant change to your operations, choosing the right integration tools can be daunting. Let’s look at the questions you should ask yourself as you look for new system integration tools.

>> Book a personalized demo with our team of experts and see how Digibee’s iPaaS will bring efficiency to your business. 

coding-on-large-monitor

Do You Really Need Integration Tools?

Many enterprises have historically relied on a centralized model – managed by a single team – to connect all the various endpoints across the organization. But this workflow can cause delays and bottlenecks for modern systems contingent on streamlined connections between distributed components.

Legacy models also make it more challenging to replace default system applications with purpose-built point solutions that benefit the business and its customers. 

Today’s digital-first world doesn’t afford most companies the luxury of downtime or delays to adopt new integration tools, no matter how beneficial they may be in the long term. But not integrating isn’t an option either, as relying on disparate systems and manual data transfers will leave organizations far behind their digital-native competitors.

Choosing the Right Integration Solution

There are several factors to consider when you begin searching for the right integration tools for your organization:

  • Basic requirements, like cost, timeline, and specific concerns or priorities
  • How the solution you choose will affect your team
  • The effect of integration on your day-to-day operations
  • Short- and long-term goals for integration

Ask yourself the following questions and be sure you know the answers before committing to any systems or data integration tools.

1. Basic Requirements

Start at the beginning. Regardless of your resources and visions for the future, there are probably some basic constraints you have to work within. Set the parameters for your integration tools search now, and look for iPaaS tools or solutions that fit them.

  • Can the tool (or tools) you’re considering handle all the types of integration you need to support?
  • Can it be deployed within the timeline you have for integration? (This is especially important if you have other strategic plans dependent on integrating.)
  • Does the solution you’re looking at fit within your budget? (Consider both upfront and ongoing costs.)
  • Will it meet any specific security or compliance requirements your organization has?

2. Effects on Your Team

With basic requirements considered, you should examine what the integration tools you select will mean to your team. A solution that looks perfect on paper but conflicts with the primary users probably won’t achieve the goals you’re aiming for.

  • Who will be using the integration tool?
    • Citizen developers?
    • Engineers and architects?
    • A mix of both?
  • How accessible is the solution to non-technical members of your team? (A highly technical solution may actually increase demand on your IT staff.)
  • Which team (or teams) will own and execute your integration strategy?
  • Will the integration tools you choose empower your existing team or require you to engage new experts?

Once you’ve established the fundamental requirements your integration tools must meet and how the solution will affect your team, you can move on to looking at the effects the solution you choose will have on your business – both day-to-day operations and long-term goals.

3. Daily Operations

A major shift in how your organization interfaces with different systems and data can be disruptive. Consider the impact tools for data or systems integration may have on your processes.

  • How long will the integration process take? A longer transition can lead to delays and costly workarounds for your business.
  • What level of disruption to regular operations should you expect? It’s important to understand the potential impact to your business and customers.
    • Will there be downtime? How much? How will you handle it?
    • How much training will your team need? Do you have the budget for that? How will you operate during onboarding?
  • How will the tool you choose affect current systems? Can you manage those impacts?
  • Will it work with any niche or legacy systems your organization relies on? If not, how will you address this?

4. Business Goals

Any investment your company makes should help further your business goals, and iPaaS tools for integration are no different. How will the solution you choose impact your success and growth, now and in the future?

  • Will it support strategies you have planned or force you to adapt to the way it works?
  • Does the integration tool you’re considering have the flexibility your company needs to adapt to industry changes?
  • Will it scale with you as your business grows?
  • How will it affect your systems in the future?

Finally, consider any guidance or input from trusted experts or consultants on the integration tools you’re assessing. They eat, sleep, and breathe integration and may be able to highlight benefits or drawbacks you haven’t thought of.

Digibee has the Integration Tools You Need

Digibee’s iPaaS solution offers the flexibility and agility your business needs to maintain a competitive edge in a rapidly changing digital-first world. Our integration solution comes without lengthy commitments or large upfront investments, can significantly shorten the time it takes your organization to develop and implement integrations, and provides comprehensive expert support to help maximize the benefits of integrating.

Want to learn more about Digibee’s innovative approach to integration? Request a demo now or contact our team for more information.

What Prevents Enterprise Companies from Integrating Software?

Posted on August 4, 2022 by - Enterprise Integration Solutions, IT

The reality of business today is that digital-first organizations have a significant advantage over their legacy infrastructure-dependent peers. The evolution of technology, the rise of globalization, and changes in how buyers expect to interact with sellers have bogged down businesses dependent on siloed data and systems.

But technology has a solution for this challenge. Enterprise integration allows companies with legacy, niche, or customized systems to connect data and processes with modern platforms to embrace digital transformation and remain competitive. And yet, the number of organizations who’ve fully implemented an integration strategy remains low.

6%

responded that they have a particular integration technology under consideration

30%

say time-to-market is one of their biggest objectives for digital transformations and cloud migrations

28%

say reducing overall operational costs is one of their biggest objectives for digital transformations and cloud migrations

*This blog post, originally published in August 2022, was updated above to reflect data from the 2023 State of Enterprise Integration Report published in April, 2023.

>> Book a personalized demo with our team of experts and see how Digibee’s iPaaS will bring efficiency to your business. 

What is Holding Businesses Back from Software System Integration?

If enterprise integration is such a boon to businesses, why are so few adopting an enterprise integration strategy? How can we explain the glaring disparity between those who view integration positively and those who are implementing it – especially amid a growing push for digital transformation?

Tech professionals from developers to the C-suite point to a wide range of factors holding back the implementation of their enterprise integration strategies.

1. Platform Integration Budget Constraints

Budget is the most commonly cited roadblock to enterprise integration, with 36% of tech professionals saying cost concerns negatively impact enterprise integration plans. It’s not uncommon for integration projects to go over budget, and decision-makers are often forced to choose between competing priorities – many of which are more appealing to stakeholders.

2. Security Concerns During Integration Implementation

Changing how your company’s data or systems are accessed – or handing control of business critical information to an external party – can be daunting. Many enterprise integration platforms and services don’t provide enough transparency into how sensitive data is transported or protected to put IT professionals’ minds at ease. Nearly one-third (31%) say concerns about the security of their systems or data hinder the implementation of an enterprise integration strategy.

3. Lack of Integration Expertise

Attempting to implement an enterprise integration strategy without a team that has the required skills and expertise or know how to integrate software can result in a project that blows past deadlines or hampers other projects, negatively affecting budget. Engaging third-party professionals or consultants can help but comes with increased cost and/or security concerns.

42%

of IT professionals said their integrations had ineffective practices and other inefficiencies that impact the success of the business

98%

of IT professionals said they have rebuilt integrations for existing key business applications in the past 12 months

*This blog post, originally published in August 2022, was updated above to reflect data from the 2023 State of Enterprise Integration Report published in April, 2023.

4. Legacy Systems and Legacy Architecture

The last few years – particularly as businesses rushed to adapt to new models during the pandemic – have left many organizations dependent on patchwork fixes or custom built internal solutions that don’t lend themselves to a digital transformation. And when business critical data is trapped in siloed systems, many companies assume that cloud migration or integration are off the table. In fact, almost one-third of IT professionals say concerns that their legacy or custom systems can’t be integrated have kept them from moving forward with enterprise integration.

42%

of IT professionals say their top objective in the next year is to upgrade from legacy infrastructure

*This blog post, originally published in August 2022, was updated above to reflect data from the 2023 State of Enterprise Integration Report published in April, 2023.

iPaaS Removes Digital Integration Roadblocks

Is there a way to remove these roadblocks and close the gap between companies that acknowledge the importance of enterprise integration and those that have embraced an enterprise integration strategy?

Choosing an integration platform-as-a-service (iPaaS) solution can help address many concerns that keep companies from moving forward with integration. The “as-a-service” model of iPaaS solutions can help mitigate budget concerns by reducing upfront investments or costly long-term commitments and allows users to fully experience the benefits of integrated software. 

The right enterprise iPaaS provider will protect data in transit and at rest with solutions that facilitate comprehensive testing of all systems and integrations before going live. And an intuitive, visual solution can alleviate the need for your organization to dedicate all your top experts to the integration process, simplifying the development of integrations for legacy and custom-built applications.

The Current State of Enterprise Integration

The 2023 State of Enterprise Integration Report by Digibee offers unique, data-based insights into the latest trends in enterprise integration as well as a look at current best practices and changes to expect in the future.

Digibee empowers businesses to build flexible, scalable integration architecture that helps them compete and excel in today’s rapidly changing digital-first environment. Our cloud-native, low-code integration platform allows organizations to connect applications, processes, and people, for a faster time to market without hefty upfront commitments.

For more insights on current trends in enterprise integration, download your free copy of the report, and take your time to contact our experts directly with your questions.

3 Ways Your Organization Can Handle the IT Skills Shortage

Posted on July 26, 2022 by - IT

The IT skills shortage is reaching crisis levels as businesses embrace digital-first and omnichannel strategies to compete with digital natives. Many companies cite a shortage of skilled staff as their chief roadblock to digitization. But it doesn’t have to be.

Lack of Expertise Keeps Firms on Prem

Software developer is among the four most in-demand professions in the US in 2022, a position that is unlikely to change as companies increase cloud spending and embrace digital transformation strategies. And as demand for public cloud services skyrockets, tech giants like Amazon and Microsoft are dramatically expanding their workforces. This leaves  other companies struggling to staff key IT positions and, in some cases, putting digitization efforts on hold.

Did You Know? More than 70% of IT leaders around the globe say the IT skills shortage is an urgent concern. 

Cloud goals and strategies aren’t even safe at businesses with fully staffed IT departments. Your IT team faces a never-ending barrage of requests from team members with competing priorities, while also working to stay current on new technological innovations and complete routine maintenance tasks. It can be a thankless job.

As competition to attract and retain in-demand experts heats up, you shouldn’t assume that your skilled team won’t be lured away. But how can you ensure your company always has the expertise needed to support innovation and maintain your competitive edge, today and in the future?

>> Book a personalized demo with our team of experts and see how Digibee’s iPaaS will bring efficiency to your business. 

Maintain Your Expertise While Hiring

The most obvious way to ensure your company isn’t hampered by the IT skills shortage is to keep hiring IT staff. The success of this strategy will depend heavily on your budget to do so, since you’ll be competing with nearly all of the corporate world to attract and retain employees with the skills and experience you need.

This tactic, despite its popularity, is not without its downsides:

  • It can be costly. You’ll need to be prepared to counter offers from massive corporations with deep pockets if you hope to win the most skilled staff.
  • Success rates vary. There’s no guarantee that you’ll succeed in securing the talent you need, and if you do,  other organizations may soon lure your experts away.
  • It’s disruptive. Onboarding new team members always involves some disruption – and repeated disruptions will negatively impact your innovation and modernization efforts.

Pro Tip: If you do opt for this strategy, put in the effort to make yourself an employer of choice. Take the time to understand your existing teams’ needs and support them with the tools they need to succeed. Build careers instead of simply filling vacancies.

Train Employees with Less Experience

Competing with corporate giants isn’t easy, so you might feel like your company will be better served getting out of the bidding war and instead focusing your efforts on training less experienced employees to protect against the IT skills shortage.

While this strategy avoids shelling out large amounts to cover the salaries of one or two expert players, it also comes with caveats.

  • It’s still not inexpensive. Instead of paying top dollar for the expertise you need, you’ll have to invest time and money into training to ensure your team has the required skills.
  • Results don’t always last. Once you get your staff to an expert level, you’re back to the previous issue: they’re in demand and you’ll have to fight to retain them.
  • Training takes time. Developing expertise doesn’t happen overnight, and all the time spent on training is time your competitors are gaining an advantage.

Pro Tip: This tactic works best if you tap into existing potential on your team. Try to be a bit more flexible about employment and educational experience. Encourage cross-training and offer opportunities to employees that show promise.

Uptrain Employees for Day-to-Day Efficiencies

Eliminating your dependence on experts for daily operations may seem like an unlikely way to address the global IT skills shortage, but it can be the most effective. Investing in technological solutions that reduce reliance on specific team members can  eliminate many of the challenges associated with hiring or training staff and offer some unique benefits.

  • Disruptions are minimized. The risk of operational disruptions drops significantly when processes don’t hinge on a small group of people with unique knowledge.
  • Scaling up is effortless. Technological investments can allow operations to grow and shift without significantly changing the demand on expert staff.
  • Your IT team benefits. This tactic lets senior specialists focus on challenging innovation tasks they enjoy most and junior workers execute less complicated assignments while still collaborating with experts to learn and grow.
  • It’s future-proof. Even the most highly skilled, loyal team members will eventually retire. Reducing dependency on experts means you can leverage their expertise for innovation now and you won’t be stranded when they leave.

Pro Tip: A cloud-based “as-a-service” solution allows you to invest in technology that reduces your exposure to the IT skills shortage without a huge upfront investment or long-term commitment.

Integration Drives Innovation

The benefits of integration are extensive and innovative. The modern integration architecture of an enterprise-integration-as-a-service solution helps your organization expedite digital transformation and cloud migration projects with a more responsive, agile environment. Data from different systems is integrated into a single, unified view of the business, further accelerating the pace of innovation. 

The benefits of pivoting to an iPaas for enterprise instead of focusing on hiring and retention include:

  • It’s simple. Low-code integration models streamline workflows so junior developers can handle routine tasks, freeing experts to focus on more high-value projects.
  • It’s seamless. An iPaaS solution that is data- and system-agnostic facilitates uninterrupted integrations between legacy systems and modern applications to support a digital-first strategy.
  • It’s scalable. The cloud-native architecture of an enterprise integration platform (iPaaS) allows for nearly unlimited scalability and flexibility and simultaneously reduces support and maintenance requirements.

Digibee Helps Solve the Talent Shortfall

Digibee’s iPaaS solution helps bridge the gap between existing integrating systems and new technologies, connecting data and platforms regardless of the amount of integration experts on staff. With Digibee, you can optimize productivity across your entire IT team, reducing your dependence on one or two experts and guarding against the effects of a global IT skills shortage.

To learn more about our accelerating integration and how to determine what stage your business is at, request a demo with our team today.

 

6 Cloud Migration Challenges to Avoid

Posted on July 25, 2022 by - Cloud Migration, IT

The transition from on-premises to cloud environments can provide your business with an array of technological advantages, not the least of which is enterprise architecture modernization. But cloud migration challenges are real – and in some cases, quite daunting – and must be considered as you plan your transition.

The best offense is a good defense. If you understand the cloud migration challenges you can expect to face, you can take steps to prepare for them, minimizing disruption and ensuring a smooth transition. In this post, we’ll examine some of the most common challenges associated with cloud migration and provide some guidelines for minimizing their impact.

>> Book a personalized demo with our team of experts and see how Digibee’s iPaaS will bring efficiency to your business. 

1. Cloud Performance

Cloud environment performance is key to maintaining continuity and minimizing disruptions that can have significant adverse effects. Cloud performance issues are typically related to availability, network latency, or application processing delays.

How to Do it Right

Before your migration process begins, it’s essential to:

  • Identify which applications are best suited to cloud migration
  • Understand application dependencies
  • Make a plan for what you will migrate and when
  • Become familiar with cloud integration platforms as they will allow for ideal performance

Make migration decisions based on data flows or business domains – not on which systems provide or receive data. Select technology that delivers the flexibility to migrate what needs migrating and keep other systems in place.

Decoupling data streams in completely isolated containers allows for both vertical and horizontal tuning. This model lets you optimize traffic between points, removing the performance constraints typically associated with cloud migration and putting the focus of analysis on endpoint capacity.

2. Cost Management

Many organizations are facing rapidly climbing cloud costs and cloud waste. It’s vital to carefully manage costs and factor in the duration and complexity of your transition to minimize cloud migration challenges and ensure a solid return on your investment.

How to Do it Right

There are a few ways to control the price of a shift to the cloud:

  • Establish a cost management checklist to follow whenever you deploy new services
  • Base all organizational cloud usage on your company’s financial policies
  • Budget specific amounts for different projects, departments, or categories
  • Utilize cost reporting tools from vendors or third parties to ensure consistency

A platform-as-a-service model eliminates the need for upfront infrastructure investments and allows costs to be adjusted to match project scope without compromising the agility or scalability of your solution. 

And while traditional cloud vendor tools focus solely on the transition, a cloud based integration system including an enterprise integration platform-as-a-service can simplify your cloud migration process while also laying the groundwork for architecture modernization.

3. Cloud Governance

Control over provisioning, infrastructure delivery, and operations is a major challenge associated with cloud computing because of the complexity involved in properly implementing, using, controlling, and maintaining IT assets. Traditional governance models must be adapted to new environments to enhance security, manage risk, and avoid problems like:

  • Poor integration between cloud systems
  • Data or effort duplication
  • Lack of alignment between systems and business goals
  • Inefficient use of resources

How to Do it Right

  • Ensure reuse and access standardization to systems, data, and business flows
  • Keep cloud usage standards consistent with organizational and industry regulations and compliance requirements
  • Align cloud strategy with overall business and IT strategies to ensure cloud systems provide quantifiable support for business objectives
  • Maintain clear agreements between all stakeholders so resources are used and shared appropriately
  • Implement changes in a consistent, standardized manner
  • Rely on monitoring and automation for dynamic response to events

4. Operations Management

The problem of shadow IT and unnecessary use of resources can reduce operational efficiency and security while driving up costs. Robust cloud operations management is needed to help overcome some cloud migration challenges.

Service level agreements define expected performance levels, but continual monitoring is necessary to ensure SLAs are upheld as infrastructure components change. Processes and checks must be implemented before code is deployed to production, and security requirements and access controls put in place.

How to Do it Right

Choose a cloud migration partner or solution that can provide the tools you need to manage operations, including:

  • Active monitoring with execution control, error handling, and reprocessing rules
  • Easy-to-use dashboard
  • Logging and alert capabilities
  • API management support for the creation, security, management, and sharing of APIs
  • Ability to interact with existing ITSM tools to send logs, events, and metrics to central monitoring, email addresses, or messaging applications

5. Observability

Observability enables administrators to gather internal and external data on networked resources to monitor and understand their behavior, investigate anomalies, and improve performance and uptime. But this can be challenging in a cloud environment, given the massive volume of data and components in cloud architecture.

How to Do it Right

Make sure the observability tools you select provide the following:

  • Integration with existing tools and support for necessary frameworks and languages
  • User-friendly interface to ensure they are used correctly and regularly
  • Real-time insights through dashboards, reports, and queries to ensure teams can quickly understand issues and their impacts
  • Support for modern event handling and context techniques
  • Visual presentation for rapid comprehension and action

6. Cloud Security

As with governance, the controls and practices developed to secure on-premises environments can’t always meet the requirements of cloud-based systems – and relying on legacy security systems can introduce new risks to your operations due to:

  • Increased attack surface (public cloud has become a large, attractive target for cybercriminals) 
  • Insecure interfaces and APIs
  • Lack of visibility and tracking, which can lead to reduced protections
  • Workload flexibility – traditional tools can’t handle dynamic environments
  • DevOps, DevSecOps, and automation (appropriate controls must be identified early in the development cycle to avoid security gaps or delays)
  • Granular permissions and keys management, which can give the wrong users dangerously high access levels
  • Complex environments made up of public cloud, private cloud, on-premises deployments, and edge protection

How to Do it Right

Mission-critical resources should be deployed in logically isolated areas, and dedicated WAN links and enterprise-defined static routing configurations used to customize access to devices, networks, gateways, and public IP addresses.

Secure all distributed cloud applications and automatically update WAF rules when there is a measurable change in traffic. Be sure to apply and enforce all security policies and processes consistently.

Employ encryption at every level of data transport, and deploy software that can detect, identify, and remediate threats in real-time.

Avoid Cloud Migration Challenges with Digibee

Digibee’s unique cloud native iPaaS for enterprise model helps minimize the risk that these common cloud migration challenges will disrupt migration and architecture modernization processes, ensuring that your digital transformation is smooth and seamless. Our solution isn’t just about moving your data and processes to the cloud. We help future-proof your operations so you’re ready for anything – including competing in a digital-first world.

Learn more about how you can overcome cloud migration challenges with Digibee’s iPaaS solution – Request a demo with our team.

8 Benefits of System Integration for Business

Posted on June 20, 2022 by - Enterprise Integration Solutions, IT

Organizations of all sizes are starting to recognize the challenges of working across multiple systems simultaneously. Improvements to data integration platforms can help streamline processes, reduce costs, simplify employee workload, and drive company growth and performance.

System integration—the process of strategically connecting applications and data to enable process automation, real-time analytics, and enterprise-wide orchestration—gets more complex as enterprises scale. Enterprise system integration is all about ensuring legacy, on-prem, and cloud applications operate in unison to streamline business processes.

A single enterprise integration platform, or iPaaS, can do so, unlocking the following benefits: 

  • Streamlined and automated business processes
  • Cost savings and operational efficiencies
  • Full utilization of technology investments
  • Flexibility to experiment and innovate
  • Increase security and governance
  • Real-time customer feedback
  • Faster growth and product development
  • Efficient remote workflows

The global integration system market is set to grow by 11.7% by 2025. Let’s dive deeper into the  importance of enterprise system integration and how to adopt the best technology.

>> Book a personalized demo with our team of experts and see how Digibee’s iPaaS will bring efficiency to your business. 

What is system integration?

System integration generally refers to connecting a variety of applications and components into a single system that supports the kind functions that drive modern business.

This can be as simple as connecting two cloud-based tools using their APIs, or as complex as managing hundreds of integrations among legacy systems, on-premise and cloud data warehouses, custom applications, and microservices on enterprise integration architecture.

Enterprise system integration happens on an integration platform (or iPaaS) that developers use to centrally manage multiple integration architectures and configurations, preferably with low-code building and managed, cloud-native infrastructure that scales automatically to meet capacity needs. 

Without an iPaaS to manage enterprise integrations, it’s easy to find yourself up against some serious challenges.

The biggest roadblocks to enterprise system integration

Many companies are just managing to keep up with the requirements of managing integrations, whether on a home-grown solution that requires extensive maintenance, or on a legacy iPaaS that doesn’t meet modern standards for cloud-based, real-time data streaming and orchestration. 

To get from constantly playing catchup to reclaiming time for innovation, you’ll need to overcome these common obstacles to managing system integrations at scale:

  • Relying solely on developers who specialize in integrations. When integrations are hard-coded or overly intricate, it takes specialty engineering resources to manage them. This sends hiring and outsourcing costs soaring.
  • Not having a centralized platform to manage enterprise-wide integrations. The more siloed different integrations are, the harder it is to achieve real orchestration.
  • Not being able to efficiently access crucial data, either from on-prem systems or legacy software that can’t handle real-time data flows.
  • No secure way to connect data to external partner systems, like suppliers, clients, and auditors.
  • Lack of time to deal with these problems. Too many digital transformation initiatives feel overwhelming or take the back burner to other customer-facing product improvements. However, integrations drive product excellency—deprioritizing integrations will eventually hinder your product’s success anyway.  

8 benefits of investing in an enterprise integration strategy

The benefits to enterprise system integration are almost becoming table stakes. Customers expect fast, performant products that operate on an interconnected set of applications and services. Internally, top talent expects to access data from multiple systems and use it to build the best possible product, customer experience, and operational workflows. 

To stay competitive, companies must fully capitalize on these benefits—the more fine-tuned their systems, the better their margins and growth metrics. Here’s how to do it on a modern integration platform:

1. Full utilization of legacy systems

Instead of replacing or refactoring older ERPs, databases, custom software, or other legacy solutions, enterprise IT teams can protect their initial investment and extend their capabilities with newer, cloud-based tools.

By building a single integration to an iPaaS that sits between modern services and legacy systems, data can flow securely from old to new without overloading compute resources or requiring extensive maintenance.

A common example of this newfound agility is modernizing the procure-to-pay process. A company would use a built-in SAP integration to connect ERP data to their iPaaS, allowing the data to flow freely through cloud accounting tools, supplier systems, and a BI solution without straining the original server. As soon as a purchase order is created in SAP, a slew of automations are triggered to speed up approvals, invoice matching and payment, and updates to metrics in AP dashboards.

Enterprises primarily looking to modernize legacy systems should explore cloud integration, or the act of bringing legacy applications and databases into a hybrid or multi-cloud environment. 

2. Streamlined, automated processes

With legacy and cloud solutions connected on the same integration platform, your options for process automation greatly expand. Each department or go-to-market team can prioritize automations that help them better serve customers, iterate on products, or improve margins.

A strong use case for automation lies in the customer journey, where an intricate web of website activity, in-product behavior, email communication, support workflows, and dozens of other interaction types paint the full picture of how well you’re acquiring and retaining customers. 

With your website, products, marketing automation platform, CRM, helpdesk solution, and more connected on a single integration platform, you can build automations that ensure customers don’t fall through the cracks. 

Many companies even create fully automated self-serve channels where smaller customers can try, buy, troubleshoot, and upgrade to higher pricing tiers of a SaaS product without ever interacting with sales or a live support agent. This frees up resources for enterprise sales without losing other potential revenue streams.

3.  Lower labor costs and TCO

Maintaining an enterprise technology stack means procuring and installing many platforms and components, managing complicated billing situations for hundreds of vendors, and often hiring specialized developers to build and maintain integrations across them all. 

And if your company isn’t paying an internal team of experts to maintain your disparate systems, you may find yourself outsourcing—this can drive up costs rapidly, depending on the number and complexity of your systems.

Today’s most cost-effective integration platforms solve this problem with low-code integration tools and centralized, managed infrastructure. Instead of requiring integration specialists or extensive training, these platforms allow general or junior developers to build integrations at scale by dragging and dropping reusable components in a visual interface. 

An effective integration solution can eliminate your reliance on the costly subscriptions, updates, and licensing fees that come with multiple systems. Additionally, internal developers don’t have to manage integration infrastructure, instead relying on their integration platform vendor to provide autoscaling, containerized services that support massive enterprise integration projects.

4. Innovative new use cases for your data

Once you’re able to access structured and unstructured data from different systems in real-time, true innovation begins. Your integration platform should enable any number of integration architectures, from enterprise service bus (ESB) to hub-and-spoke, connecting on-prem databases, cloud data lakes and warehouses, and third party data sources and applications that help you understand your business better.  

With a single, central ecosystem and a 360° view of all your data, business leaders can explore and benchmark against metrics relevant to their departments using BI tools that don’t require coding or analyst experience. Data scientists and analysts spend their time fine-tuning sophisticated data models, experimenting with AI, and building data-enabled products for customers and internal stakeholders. 

Because data all runs through a centralized integration platform, it only takes a single update to roll out improvements enterprise-wide.

5. Improved data security and governance

When sensitive data gets out into the world, your business can face significant financial consequences—as well as a loss of trust among your customers. Using a modern iPaaS for system integration means you’re always operating on a secure, enterprise-grade platform that protects sensitive, business-critical data. 

Your iPaaS should allow you to quickly toggle security controls on and off across all of your integrations. For example, IT might enable single sign on (SSO) across hundreds of enterprise applications in just a few minutes by using prebuilt connectors and components on their integration platform.

In industries with an intense regulatory environment, companies can use integration platforms to stay on top of compliance requirements. An enterprise-grade solution includes detailed logging, built-in governance, and scalable workflows for changing business logic to keep up with evolving laws. 

6. Real-time customer feedback loops

Customers may not always tell you how they feel about your product, but their actions do. Companies with fully integrated systems can access real-time event data from their website and product, combine it with customer data from Salesforce and other sales and marketing tools, then use it to better tailor support and product improvements to their ideal customer. 

This is especially powerful for product-led or community-led strategies that rely on early adopters, power users, and the developer community to guide the product roadmap. However, even the most traditional enterprise sales team benefits from real-time feedback during trials, pilots, and onboarding to increase ACV and expansion revenue down the road.  

7. Accelerated growth and time to market

With time-consuming processes automated, manual data entry eliminated, and real-time analytics accessible from anywhere, your organization can reach important milestones faster.

Product teams are able to launch powerful, customer-facing apps that rely on accurate data from a multitude of sources. Sales and marketing teams can use automation to target your most valuable customer segments and bring in higher-ACV deals.

Having a scalable integration strategy frees up IT resources to streamline business processes and accelerate common workflows instead of spending time managing integration infrastructure. The more sophisticated your company’s automation capabilities, the faster you can eliminate bottlenecks and bring exciting new systems to market.

8. Work-from-home for the future

The pandemic exposed enterprise integration weaknesses like nothing had before. As the workforce went remote overnight, many large enterprises found it hard to work around company firewalls and IT guardrails.  

On an enterprise integration platform, your business has a central source of truth that both employees and automated systems can access securely from anywhere. On-prem systems stay protected, business stakeholders and partners make decisions on real-time data in the cloud, and customers enjoy a seamless experience that’s completely location-independent.

Enterprise system integration on Digibee

Digibee is the only integration platform that scales integration workflows while reducing cost, technical debt, and the burden on development teams. Enterprises use it to manage multiple integration models, quickly building, testing, deploying, and monitoring every integration from one flexible platform. 

With Digibee, you don’t have to start from scratch to realize the key benefits of system integration. Developers can use Capsules, or modular components to quickly build new integrations and manage them without specialized training. The platform’s flexibility allows even the most daunting integration projects to move faster—you can modernize legacy systems, adopt new tools without abandoning old ones, and migrate away from outdated software solutions at your own pace without impacting the business. 

To learn more, take our product tour or request a personalized demo from our sales team.

Could a System Integration Solution Unlock the Hidden Value of Your Applications?

Posted on April 5, 2021 by - Enterprise Integration Solutions, IT

Integration has always been a heavy lift in enterprise IT. Applications developed between the 1960s and the 1980s were monolithic, siloed behemoths. Their creators never gave a thought to connecting one to another. Architectures were product-specific. User interfaces, proprietary. And the easiest way to move data from one system to another was to print it in one place and manually re-enter the information in another.