Introduction to Enterprise Integration
At its core, Gearproxy is all about enterprise integration for small to medium size companies. Many large companies have entire departments dedicated to this concept, but Gearproxy allows for any sized organization to take advantage of their data for a competitive edge. Enterprise integration; what is exactly is it? RedHat defines “Enterprise Integration” as the following:
Enterprise integration encompasses the technologies, processes, and team structures that connect data, applications, and devices from everywhere in your IT organization.
Enterprise integration models have evolved over the years from those with a relatively small number of point-to-point connections, to a centralized model connected through an enterprise service bus (ESB), to a distributed architecture with many reusable endpoints.
To put this more concisely from a Wikipedia perspective, Enterprise integration is:
It is a concept in enterprise engineering to provide the relevant information and thereby enable communication between people, machines and computers and their efficient co-operation and co-ordination.
What does enterprise integration provide
A modern enterprise integration platform provides the tools and capabilities to enable the speed and agility of today’s businesses. As data continues to prove its value in all areas of business, the following key points summarize what is needed in order to maximize your return on data.
- System Interconnectivity – All enterprise integration platform should connect the operating systems and applications that power the business. Connect employees, customers, and partners, processes and applications, systems, and other technologies within your enterprise.
- Real-Time Updates – With an enterprise integration platform, organizations can ensure that they are always up-to-date on the state of its transactions. Enterprises gain more visibility than they’ve ever had before.
- Heightened Productivity – Critical communications become streamlined through a single integration solution, and advanced technologies aggregate the data so employees across job function can access and interpret the information they need at any given time.
- Workflow Automation – From an application standpoint, all of an enterprises’ applications and systems, from CRMs to ERPs, cloud based or in-house, are integrated and automated. This major advantage eliminates the need for manual data re-entry and errors, enhances transparency, and is much simpler to manage.
How to build a successful integration plan
Enterprise integration strategy, there are a number of steps to take prior to action. Besides evaluating your needs, technologies and what you hope to gain from improved enterprise integration, you will need to consider the following:
- Create an integration roadmap.
- Determine metrics to measure strategy effectiveness.
- Minimize redundancies.
- Focus in a small piece of your plan that you can implement first as a pilot program.
Companies practicing good integration connect their entire ecosystem and gain:
- Agility to make faster business decisions and to keep critical business information up-to-date.
- Visibility into the data flowing throughout your business so you can proactively manage processes and troubleshoot errors.
- Efficiency by connecting disparate systems and improving processes across the organization.
- Cost savings by eliminating manual processes and costly legacy systems, so IT resources can focus on strategic activities.
- Accelerated growth with the ability to bring on new business faster with out-of-the-box solutions that are easy to deploy.
- Applications, whether in-house or in the cloud, have never been as inexpensive as they are today; not to mention organizations have levels of scalability that previous generations of IT departments could only have dreamed of. An platform that ties all these applications and systems together in one easy-to-use solution – and aligns with your business needs – will better deliver on the promise of integration. And that promise is increased value.
Customers’ needs are changing daily; that is the only constant! With the fast-moving world of technology and cloud computing, an enterprise integration platform can redefine customer reach, engagement, and improve the quality of customer service within your organization.
Gearproxy is an option to provide the above mentioned value to your organization as a full service integration platform. Please feel free to contact us to learn more about the Gearproxy platform, service or further education in the Integration space.
