An enterprise integrator, also known by the term EiPaaS, is a platform which connects data, public and private clouds, business applications, processes, and devices across the entire IT landscape. It is not simply a platform that aims to integrate data streams but all applications and other tools embedded into a company’s services. By doing so, an enterprise integrator helps applications and systems communicate, making them more responsive to a company’s business needs.
The number of applications in a company grows by the day. Hence, there is a need for a coherent system that can easily integrate all applications into one platform. In fact, according to The 2022 Connectivity Benchmark report by Deloitte and Mulesoft, the average number of applications an organisation has this year was 976, which is quite an increase from last year’s average (843). Despite the wide number of applications used, unfortunately, only 28% of them are, on average, integrated. However, the ECG survey published in February 2022 identifies that one in five companies recognises enterprise integration as a key priority in the next two years. As businesses may need clarification about where to start their research, this article will guide such companies by explaining the types of enterprise integration platforms and the advantages a company can gain from having such a system.
Why Do You Need an Enterprise Integration Platform?
For instance, a manufacturing company uses multiple software by different vendors to run its daily operations. Since different software solution providers have developed them, the method of operation could be different. It may also have different uses and data stores. As a result, the same data could be replicated in multiple points. This creates data silos leading to inconsistent and inaccurate data. Incorporating an enterprise integration platform offers a clear methodology for applications to communicate and share data with one another.
Integration is an important aspect of big data to ensure that it provides insights most relevant to a company’s business goals. Traditionally, companies used an enterprise service bus (ESB) to connect every endpoint in a business, and it had to be manually managed by a separate team. This made it a time-consuming process, creating bottlenecks in a modern system. Hence, several enterprise integration tools were subsequently used to automate this process, giving faster access to the required information. The modern system should be compatible with integrating data, applications, cloud, API, process, platform, and device.
Types of Enterprise Integration Models
There are multiple enterprise integration models, of which the most suitable will depend on your needs. Here are five of the main types of enterprise integration models:
Point-to-Point Integration
Point-to-point integration consists of three steps, making it the simplest form of enterprise integration. It extracts, translates and transfers data from one format to another. This form of enterprise integration is mainly suited for small businesses as attempting to extract, translate and transfer data for different systems in a business is time-consuming. It is additionally not suitable for larger companies since it is hard to maintain in a scaling business.
Hub-and-Spoke Integration
As the name of this model suggests, the hub-and-spoke enterprise integration platform has a central hub whereby systems are connected through a “spoke”. Data is reformatted and distributed from one database to another. It, thus, removes the need to interconnect all applications. It proactively attempts to resolve any slowdowns by keeping the workflow moving every time it reformats data. In comparison to the point-to-point model, therefore, the hub-and-spoke model is more reliable and faster. The development period is nevertheless a time-consuming process, and a hub and spoke system is equally hard to maintain for a scaling business.
Bus Integration
Also known as an enterprise service bus, this is a refined version of the hub-and-spoke model. It performs the same tasks described in the previous section but uses a different architecture. The main difference is that while the hub-and-spoke system uses a centralised transmitter, the bus model performs integration within each application. As a result, data and transmitted and received according to the rules or standards of each service. While it offers a user-friendly platform to integrate applications faster and seamlessly, it requires time during the planning and product selection stage.
Middleware
Middleware regulates data between the system and the interface. It acts as a behind-the-scene translator, ensuring all data is transmittable. There are two types of middleware, including enterprise and platform middleware. Enterprise middleware focuses on connecting software applications, whereas platform middleware connects different application architectures. It specifically interconnects data in the development environment, production and testing stages. Various forms of middleware can be infused to ensure it meets the interoperability requirements.
Microservices
Companies incorporating cloud-based applications will find microservices the most useful for their operations. It uses an API to pull and send data to all services with one server. It is also one of the most secure models of enterprise integrator which has layers of security and encryption checkpoints, specifically when data is transmitted and delivered to the desired location. The role of microservices can be categorised into three, including journey services, business services and data services. The journey service is a recommendation service often found in companies with an e-commerce portal. Business services include retrieving or processing data required to execute a business functionality. On the other hand, data services transmit enterprise data in easy formats such as JSON and XML.
Benefits of Incorporating an Enterprise Integrator
The biggest benefit of an enterprise integrator is that it connects everything. Companies can therefore integrate everyone from employees, customers, partners, processes and applications, systems, and other technologies within their enterprise. It simplifies data flow in a complex operating system by acting as a common interface. It also offers companies intelligent ways to change their operation according to their business needs. Organisations can respond to time-sensitive events such as application management or policy shift much faster without undergoing serious application changes. In other words, businesses can stay up-to-date in their transaction and gain more visibility. As it automates data management, leading to fewer errors and maximising productivity within a corporation.
Integrate Your Systems Comprehensively with Cerexio Enterprise Integrator
Cerexio Enterprise Integrator supports any deployment option- cloud, web-based or on-prem. It is API-centric and helps companies to overcome point-to-point integrations of data flow. It is an excellent choice for companies that also offer microservices as they can deploy your data flow in any form, including physical, Containers, VM, and Kubernetes. All integration features as user friendly and accessible from one single console. Engineer, debug, design, deploy, test and diagnose integration pipelines easily with the drag-and-drop gestures provided in the system. Identify your integration patterns and infuse your integration as an ESB service for leaner integration runtime. Our software guarantees uninterrupted communication between all applications and servers and has a universal integration connection with multiple built-in connectivity supporters. Cerexio allows you to deploy it in any form and supports API connecting and stream processing functions. In essence, Cerexio helps you to transition to an organisation that meets the modern digital needs of the business world.
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Enterprise Integrator Acts as Your Single Source of Truth
In essence, enterprise integration makes data less complex, transforming it into a universally consumable manner. All this automates data processing, carries out software updates efficiently and helps you identify your corporation’s weaknesses through the insights provided in the system. All this helps companies to scale into the future in an agile manner. Dare to find out the real progress of your business? Implement a robust enterprise integrator model suitable for your operations.
