Integrate the right way

Integration is much more than "just" translating and moving data from one place to another. A smart and well-executed integration removes unnecessary manual work and creates large efficiency gains - but this requires that the integration is fully automated and fully supports - and improves upon - the process to be digitized.

Traditionally, integrations are created in system and application projects, which often leads to typical "integration spaghetti" characterized by:

• Direct connections between systems and applications (point-to-point)
• Strong personal dependencies (only one or maybe a couple of people know how the integration is set up)
• Inadequate documentation
• No reusability
• No traceability or alarm functionality.

When a department or function at a company buys IT systems, they primarily look to their own needs and often do not involve the IT department. This "silo approach" makes it much more difficult to share relevant data across functions within the company.

What may seem like the cheapest, fastest and easiest solution at the moment often end up costing many times more in maintenance over time.