Integration software
Integration Software Explained: Why It’s Good for Your Company and How to Choose Your Tool
Communication between different enterprise systems has become more complex now. In the earlier days, information from databases can quickly be transferred to a mainframe at specified times of the day. However, this has become quite challenging now due to the increase in databases, endpoints, and cloud applications. High customer demand for real-time information also makes information exchange challenging to accomplish 24 hours a day.
Different kinds of application integration platforms are born out of the need for more robust data communication and connecting multiple work management systems. As such, you should consider getting such a tool to improve your information exchange within your company. It’s for the benefit of your customers and your entire team as well.
In this post, we’ll look into what integration software is and the benefits of using such a tool. We’ll also explore vital questions to ask yourself when searching for the right integration solution for your company. And lastly, we’ll show you Platinum Partner’s solution for integration tools – Workato.
What Is an Integration Software?
Integration software is a digital solution aimed at integrating different types of services and applications. It brings together diverse types of data and information so that you’ll have one place to review, analyze, and modify them as necessary. The tool also allows companies to automate practically almost everything in their workflow and departments.
Here are some of the features and capabilities of integration solutions:
- Built within the cloud or between the cloud and on-premise enterprise applications
- Can perform real-time and batch integration
- Has pre-built connectors to a wide range of applications
- Offers a console or dashboard where you can monitor the ability to stop and start processes, check system health, and track the utilization of resources
- Can support different integration processes like ETL and EDI
- Integrates using third-party system API for complex integration work
- Integrates, connects, and governs SaaS and other cloud-based applications
- Offers security features such as encrypted passwords, LDAP integration, rights management, and many more
Most integration software today comes in a pre-built platform that doesn’t require a deep understanding of code to work. You can easily integrate applications and automate workflows from them with a few clicks. Some of the applications you can connect include business apps (CRM and ERPs), JSON, enterprise messaging systems, extensible markup languages, proprietary data protocols (HTTPS, HTTP, POP3, IMAP, etc.), web and data applications, databases, online analytical systems, and mobile applications.
Benefits of Using an Integration Software
A robust application integration platform gives your team several benefits, including the following:
- Eliminates the arduous tasks of manually transferring customer data from one system to another
- Improves employee productivity and allows them to focus more on their core duties
- Provides complete and real-time business visibility, letting business leaders come up with quick yet efficient business decisions
- Lessens the burden placed on the IT department, saving them effort, time, energy, and money
- Allows the company’s IT professionals to focus more on strategic company initiatives rather than endlessly maintaining, integrating, and updating dysfunctional business applications
- Helps the entire team create tailor-made workflows driven by a complete customer view
- Improves customer experience and heightens satisfaction because integration software allows them to see their data on-demand and resolve any issues rapidly
- Lowers the company’s operational costs by integrating several applications into a single, user-friendly platform
To put it quickly, integration software can improve your team’s productivity and how you respond and communicate with your customers. The platform also ensures that customers get uninterrupted access to their data whenever they wish, driving up their satisfaction and making them highly likely to do business with your company again.
Essential Questions to Ask When Buying an Integration Tool
With several integration tools available in the market today, how do you know which one delivers on their promises and works efficiently for your business? Here are some questions that will serve as guideposts in searching and purchasing the right integration software:
- What is your integration requirement : Think of your present and future data integration needs. You may require either an agile or static data integration platform according to your unique industry and business needs. Regardless, those needs must be met by the integration software you select. Opting for a flexible and adaptive software solution is a good choice since technology is fast-changing and you’ll never know how much data you’ll need to cater to in the future.
- Does the platform support diverse data types: Select an application integration platform that supports several kinds of information and data types. List down all potential data sources and types your company is currently using, then check if they’re all supported by your prospective integration software.
- How will your platform be deployed: You can select from deploying your integration software from the cloud or on-premise. Most integration tools can do both today. Also, make sure that your chosen platform can support distributed processing environments to successfully deploy it in various operating environments.
- Is the tool easy-to-use: Ease of use is among the biggest factors that will make or break a particular software, and integration tools are no exception to this. Ensure that your chosen software is user-friendly so that you can seamlessly onboard your team on using it. An easy-to-use platform also gives your team members extra motivation to learn and adapt to the new software. Product training and documentation is made easier when the tool itself is simple enough to use.
- Does the tool’s price fit your budget: Integration tools are huge company investments. Hence, make sure your chosen tool fits your intended budget and that it’s efficient enough to ensure a faster return on investment (ROI) for your business. Note also that your budget should include not just the main software license price but also the maintenance, support, upgrades, and resources that go with the entire integration platform.
Additional Considerations When Selecting an Integration Tool
Here are additional factors to consider in choosing your company’s integration software:
- Other software uses apart from apps integration (automation, data migration, data replication, data virtualization)
- Projected length of time the software will be used (long-term or short-term)
- Future scalability – the addition of new users, projects, apps, and systems
- Complete traceability feature for both work and non-work items
- An excellent failure recovery mechanism in emergencies to minimize or prevent complete loss of customer data
- Regular system upgrades and security features available
Our Solutions for Integration Software Workato
Platinum Partner offers one robust application integration platform for its customers – Workato. This software is a leading integration tool that’s easy to use, streamlined, and powerfully flexible. Workato is also among the leading integration platforms in the market today.
The software provides a wide range of integration types, making it an all-encompassing and convenient solution for your business’s data management needs. Workato allows you to combine data sources and automate workflows through clicks and not code.
Salient features of Workato include the following:
- Serve-less operation with built-in redundancy and elastic scaling
- Agile automation through clicks with no coding required
- Robust security and governance features
- Can connect directly to databases through ETL
- Utilizes Recipes, a ready-made workflow that facilitates business process automation
- Utilizes Recipes, a ready-made workflow that facilitates business process automation throughout all integrated apps when specific triggers are met
- Integration with powerful CRM provider Salesforce
With all its powerful features, Workato is surprisingly easy to use and understand. The software also seamlessly works for both cloud-based and on-premise apps.
Make (formerly Integromat)
Make offers endless opportunities with its high-end features.
- It has a drag-and-drop interface.
- You can import stored data from other tasks into a new process and reuse the results for further processing.
- It can automate an unlimited number of apps.
- Users have a security and data protection guarantee.
- Easy Make (formerly Integromat) integration with Asana and other apps.
