The Benefits of Implementing an Enterprise Integration Strategy
Taking an agile approach to enterprise integration can open numerous possibilities for organizations. With the right focus, you will be able to improve efficiency while reducing costs and creating new business opportunities — all with a phased rollout of your strategy. Key integration approaches such as API-led connectivity, Event Driven Architecture, Centralized vs Decentralized Integration Hubs are some examples that help bring results quickly without overburdening resources and funds.
Increased Efficiencies
A strategic approach to enterprise integration can provide a myriad of efficiency benefits for your organization. Automation capabilities help reduce errors, free up employee time, and optimize communications between team members — promoting more effective collaboration while maximizing cost savings in the process.
Improved Data Quality and Accessibility
Real-time, accurate data is a powerful asset to any organization. By integrating multiple systems into one platform, companies will not only benefit from improved decision accuracy and decreased risk of errors, but also boost the value of their data while offering users better experiences. Streamlining redundant tasks further adds an element of efficiency that optimizes operations at every level.
Greater Agility and Flexibility
Businesses can become more agile and flexible to keep up with changing markets. This process of transformation helps organizations stay competitive in an ever-evolving business world by allowing them to rapidly respond to changes such as shifts in market share or new regulatory requirements. This gives companies a vital advantage over their competition–the ability to excel when it counts most.
Enhanced Customer Service
Organizations can provide a superior customer experience by integrating their digital presence and applications, such as those used for e-commerce and CRM. Not only does this create lasting relationships with customers, but it also gives organizations the added benefit of gaining valuable insights into customers’ needs through data collection and analysis. This is the key to driving loyalty that leads directly to increased sales.
Reduces Costs
Enterprise integration enables organizations to unlock valuable resources that may have been tied up in multiple systems. Through automation and eliminating silos of data, organizations can reduce the costs associated with managing many different IT solutions, enabling companies to invest those savings into strategic initiatives for innovation and growth.
Improved Risk Management
Data integration can be the difference between a business prepared and one left vulnerable to risk. By connecting all their processes, organizations gain an edge in foreseeing potential threats — such as cyber-attacks, market disruption, or natural disasters — allowing them to act quickly before they do any damage. Turning integration into an engine of resilience ensures businesses are ready for any potential threat that could put operations at risk.
Increased Scalability
Integrating business data is essential for maximizing organizational growth potential. By taking advantage of this strategy, businesses can add new systems and applications effortlessly while scaling up their operations quickly to support their long-term goals and success.
Summary
Enterprises are increasingly integrating systems, data, and processes to create streamlined and efficient operations. This integration allows businesses to enhance their capabilities quickly. You should be able to integrate without infrastructure changes to your original source/target systems, but absolutely will add infrastructure to stand up the integration and messaging platforms — in multiple environments.
By connecting multiple services and systems together through APIs, organizations can leverage existing technologies to improve scalability in areas such as customer service, sales automation, analytics, and software development. As a result, businesses can make better decisions faster, reduce costs associated with manual labor and overhead, increase customer satisfaction, and streamline processes for quick implementation of new ideas.
Integration allows businesses to stay competitive in fast-changing markets by quickly adapting to changing consumer needs without sacrificing quality or security. With efficient integrations in place, companies have much greater control over how their organizations scale their operations — enabling them to maximize growth opportunities while keeping business risks at a minimum.
Accelerate Your Integration Journey
Recognized by Fast Company as a 2021–2022 Best Workplace for Innovators, Ascendum is an award-winning global technology firm dedicated to delivering pioneering ideas and solutions that enrich our clients’ customer experiences and business operations. Our clients come to us for innovative ideas and boundary-pushing solutions.
Ascendum can help your organization unlock the power of data integrations and incrementally take your organization to the next level of success. Our partnership provides a comprehensive range of services from strategy consulting to implementation, plus ongoing support for every step along your journey.
Get in touch today and discover how we can help accelerate your integration strategies.
About the Author
Tom Whitehead (LinkedIn) has more than 30 years of IT experience and has held many technical and leadership roles. He entered the enterprise integration space in 2006 and has connected many disparate systems within the CPG, retail, logistics, and theme park industries using multiple platforms. Now, Tom leads the global enterprise integration practice at Ascendum and is excited to partner with our clients to help modernize their integration landscapes.
Tom is married with three daughters, is a licensed private pilot, and enjoys playing guitar and riding his motorcycle.
