Lisa Schwarz | Senior Director of Global Product Marketing @ NetSuite
An inevitable consequence of business growth is that companies often quickly add new applications to their IT ecosystems to fuel greater productivity and efficiency — from human resources (HR) systems to new employee collaboration tools. And although these systems can indeed offer significant improvements, a growing application ecosystem can eventually create more problems than it solves, particularly if those systems aren’t integrated. Disconnected applications create a host of issues, from siloed data to redundant processes, inefficient workflows and a lack of companywide insights.
Systems integration offers a way to connect disparate applications so they work and grow together as companies scale, providing crucial benefits, from improved data accuracy to sharper decision-making. This article defines systems integration and explains how companies can reap the rewards of connected applications.
What Is Systems Integration?
Systems integration is the process of linking separate software applications to create a unified and coordinated application environment. Connecting systems and data throughout an organization can dramatically streamline operations, reduce redundant processes and enable real-time data access across departments. By enabling seamless communication among technologies, companies can achieve a holistic view of their operations, make informed decisions faster and respond to market changes with greater agility. Integration also allows companies to automate business processes across applications and departments, leading to more accurate and consistent data and the ability to leverage real-time information for strategic planning.
The systems integration process is often driven by technology, and companies have several options to facilitate the process. Systems integrators are third-party providers that build application ecosystems for clients by combining hardware, software, networking and
storage products from multiple vendors. Systems integrators can be costly, which is why some companies opt for custom-built solutions, such as application programming interfaces (APIs), middleware and integration platform-as-a-service (iPaaS) tools. APIs are like sets of instructions that allow applications to communicate and share. Middleware serves as a translator, helping systems that speak different “languages” understand each other. iPaaS is a cloud-based platform that connects, manages and governs a wide range of APIs and middleware within a unified interface.