We are so done with point-to-point connectivity. It is not feasible anymore to use this approach for connecting a flurry of applications in a hybrid environment. It might be a good solution where an enterprise has 3-4 business applications that need to be connected with the IT of 5-10 external business partners for electronic data exchange. However, the current IT integration use cases have hundreds or thousands of business systems.Self-service integration enables business users to handle myriad applications and create data connections at the speed of business. It is indeed the future of data integration.
Simply put, a revamped self-service integration approach provides a faster way of addressing integration issues and moving to more challenging objectives.
Related Whitepaper: Reimagine customer data integration
15 years ago, enterprises had only 3-4 business applications that need to be connected with the IT of 5-10 major external business partners. IT teams used a point-to-point connectivity approach for building integrations. They relied on developer tools to create point-to-point interfaces and took several months to build each one. This method has become outdated for modern-day data exchange.
Today, it is not uncommon to see more than 15-20 applications in every organization which need to be connected with 100s or 1000s of B2B customers and partners. The IT remains in a state of volatility as integrations needed to be added, updated, and removed on a frequent basis. While building integrations, enterprises unintendedly create ‘Islands of Automation’ and silos. As a result, a lot of time and money is wasted in the process of creating integrations. Enterprises can avoid many of these problemsand improve their ease of doing business witha self-service integration approach.
Why is Point-to-Point Connectivity Bad?
Integrating applications with point-to-point connectivity can be more cumbersome than enterprises realize. IT teams approach integrations in an ad-hoc manner by building interfaces for each integration. These interfaces lack consistency in terms of technology and data quality. Soon they create a spaghetti network of interconnections that are difficult to maintain and manage. Some vendors propose an API-driven approach to integration but it works for internal integrations and not for external B2B integration as consuming APIs requires extensive projects.
Codeless Data Mapping & Future of Integration
Codeless integration helps in integrating discrete cloud & on-premise systems and enterprise-class suites in simple and non-technical ways. Enterprises can integrate a universe of applications and develop new capabilities and services without the need of writing a single line of code. They can architect technologically sophisticated integrations thrice as quickly as point-to-point integrations. This approach helps operational users on four important fronts:
- Integrate: Build integrations between application to application or partners to enterprise systems in minutes and not months.
- Design: Deploy integration design patterns and create codeless data mapping without coding as per business needs. This improves productivity and operational efficiency.
- Monitor: Audit all integrations and deliver visibility for error management and compliances.
- Govern: Enable updation and governance of integration flows internally or externally across multiple organizations.
Real-World Business Benefits of Self-Service Integration
- Enterprises get citizen integration capabilities for data mapping, data preparation, CRM system updation, data onboarding, etc.
- Cloud integration, B2B Integration, or any other Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) can be executed on one single platform.
- Business users canonboard data and set up connections in a day rather than weeks or months.
- Cloud-to-cloud to ground or ground to cloud integrations can be made simple while cutting man-hours cost by nearly 90%.
- Companies are perceived as being easier-to-do-business-with which is critical to retain and expand customer baseand create delightful customer experiences.
- Companies areagile and responsive to go after new opportunities or offer new products and services because they are not constrained by old, slow integration connections.