Technology leaders of fast growing companies face a really complex problem - how to integrate their key applications in a way that keeps risks low, costs down and schedules short.
Companies on a growth path don't have the IT resources they need, nor do they have the financial slack to invest in expensive and complicated software-based integration tools. Nevertheless, they must integrate their core applications in order to gain the most value for their business.
Application integration projects will increase in both scope and number. This trend is especially challenging for midsized companies.
This article examines the application integration trends for midsized businesses, companies with less than $3 billion in revenue. Technology leaders in these companies have only a few integration approaches to choose from: create custom code, wrestle with sophisticated EAI tools or use an appliance dedicated to integration.
These three integration choices are analyzed - so that managers can more knowledgeably select the best approach. Appliances stand out as the best alternative for the bulk of integration projects - they simply cost less, are easy to use and involve less risk than the other approaches.
IT managers can typically save 40 to 80 percent in total cost of ownership (TCO) over the other options, and delivery is measured in days, rather than months.
Because the integration challenges faced by large companies differs somewhat from those of midsized businesses, larger companies may use appliances for their many point-to-point integration projects or to quickly and easily integrate applications with existing EAI platforms. However, technology managers of Fortune 500 companies will still find value in the lessons learned here because integration appliances work well in any size business.
Growing Need for Integration
In the past few years, enterprise software providers have turned their sights to midsized companies. Companies such as SAP, Oracle, Salesforce.com and RightNow have created versions for midsized businesses and are currently seeing strong growth in the adoption of these systems.
There will be demand for enterprise resource planning (ERP) and customer relationship management (CRM) solutions as midsized businesses aim to get the same operational and analytical benefits as the larger companies have enjoyed. In addition, on-demand or software as a service solutions, such as those offered by Salesforce.com are gaining traction among midsized businesses.
This trend will likely help midsized businesses gain important abilities, but there remains one huge problem - the benefits of enterprise applications can only be realized when those applications are fully integrated. Two (or more) applications must be able to share data and business rules seamlessly, in real time, with reliable performance and scalability. For example, a field sales representative can learn that the customer he's been spending time selling to has not paid his bills and is on credit hold in the billing system. Or, manufacturing and materials management groups can gain early visibility of a coming downstream surge in orders and use this information to adjust production schedules.
Integration is a top priority for companies. Companies that can integrate their applications are going a long way toward improving their business processes, because most processes cross functional lines naturally.
The overwhelming majority of application integration needs in midsized businesses are straightforward: move data from one application to another, in real time, according to set business rules. Some especially messy integration problems will always exist, and these problems will require the use of sophisticated and custom tools. However, most integration projects are relatively simple. Does it make sense, then, to invest in a NASCAR effort when a Camry will do?
Probably not. More likely is that technical managers want a technology that takes care of the vast number of straightforward integration projects in a quick, simple and cost-effective manner. A technology that completes integration in days, rather than months, will quickly give businesses the full benefit of an integrated enterprise.
Application Integration - Three Choices
There are three ways to integrate applications. First, through enterprise application integration (EAI) tools; second, through custom coding; the third is through integration appliances, which are relatively new to the market, and - for many midsized businesses - have already overcome the challenges and barriers of the first two approaches. Let's look at each.
EAI and ETL Tools - Like Using a Chainsaw to Open a Letter
EAI tools were designed to create elaborate frameworks for integrating dozens to hundreds of applications. Companies have found they are good approaches to addressing complex business process initiatives such as business process management (BPM), business activity monitoring (BAM) and an enterprise backbone. extract, transform, and load (ETL) tools support massive volume transactions and very complex data manipulations, such as you might find in big data warehousing solutions. Both of these approaches require heavy lifting by many skilled programmers, long delivery times and high budgets.
Interestingly, most integration projects do not have the characteristics described above. Most midsized businesses are not implementing huge data warehouses, nor do they need to integrate the hundreds of standalone applications for which EAI was designed. Most midsized businesses need to integrate fewer than 10 applications. Using EAI tools for these kinds of integrations is like using a chainsaw to open a letter: too much overhead and time required for the task, which prevents positive payback.
Custom Coding - Complicated, When You Need Simple
The default for any company facing an integration project among critical applications is to write the data transformation and workflow mapping code from scratch using Java-based languages, ABAP or some other scripting language. However, writing custom code creates at least five serious problems for IT managers.
- Monopolizes specialist skills. By writing custom code for straightforward application integration projects, midsized businesses must commit their few programmers, and therefore lose the ability to create new value-added applications and functions that will support their core business.
