Most companies utilize a large number of applications to complete their business processes. In fact, organizations with fewer than 500 employees use an average of 253 applications, and if your business is larger, you’re potentially using 300 to 500 applications regularly. 

This marks a significant shift from the traditional ways businesses used technology. In the past, companies primarily used a few legacy systems, but in recent years, adopting best-of-breed cloud applications has gained traction. These applications often aren’t designed with other systems in mind, meaning they can’t communicate with each other. 

Since modern businesses rely heavily on data, this lack of communication between systems can cause your company problems. That’s why you need application integration. Application integration helps applications smoothly sync data back and forth. Read on to learn more about application integration and some of the key benefits of utilizing this approach. 

What is application integration?

Application integration is the process of connecting different applications–both on-premise and cloud applications–within your organization. This enables cloud, legacy, and other systems to communicate and share data. By implementing application integration, you can streamline operations, improve efficiency, and enhance the overall performance of your business processes.

Without application integration, your teams will need to manually transfer data between systems. This is a slow and error-prone process. 

Once you implement application integration, not only can you automate processes, but you can also ensure each application has accurate, real-time data. For example, you can integrate your customer relationship management (CRM) system with your enterprise resource planning (ERP) platform. This allows customer data to be automatically updated across both systems, ensuring that sales, marketing, and finance teams have access to the same information in real-time.

The benefits of application integration extend beyond improved data accuracy and efficiency. It also enables better decision-making by providing a unified view of data from different sources. This allows your organization to act quickly based on changes in your data. 

Types of application integration

Application integration can be done in a variety of ways. Here are some common methods to achieve application integration:

Coded point-to-point integration

Coded point-to-point integration involves directly connecting two applications to facilitate data exchange. These integrations require skilled developers to write code to integrate APIs (application programming interfaces). While coded point-to-point integrations allow developers to meet any custom requirement, they can also cause bottlenecks and growing integration backlogs as your business grows.

Managing coded point-to-point integrations can be challenging. Your team will need to keep track of API changes themselves, and if you miss a change, your integrations may stop and need to be rebuilt. 

Due to the need for technical resources to build and constantly monitor your coded point-to-point integrations, it’s a popular choice for organizations with large development teams. These teams have the budget and bandwidth to implement, manage, and maintain integrations. 

Vendor-provided integration

Many SaaS applications offer point-to-point integrations to popular hub applications that address common use cases. This method of integration is straightforward and can be completed by business system administrators. However, while it is simple to implement, it can become difficult to manage at scale. 

Vendor-provided integrations aren’t centralized on a single platform, which limits visibility and error handling. This often results in the need to manually rekey data. Additionally, as the number of integrations grows, so do non-compliance and privacy risks.

Since it becomes much more complex to manage vendor-provided integrations when they span multiple systems and business processes, this solution is ideal for integrations with a limited number of endpoints and flows. 

Workflow automation

Workflow automation tools are designed to streamline and automate specific tasks and processes within your organization. These platforms often have no-code UX design that can help business users create automated workflows.

Workflow automation platforms are best used for routine activities, such as data entry, email notifications, and task assignments. However, this solution isn’t helpful for data integration. These platforms have limited data integration functionality, and typically place limits on data volume, concurrent flows, and API calls.

Because these platforms aren’t well suited for data integration and can be difficult to manage at scale, they are best for simplifying repetitive tasks, rather than complex integrations. 

iPaaS

Integration Platform as a Service (iPaaS) is a modern solution designed for application integration and is particularly suited for cloud environments. iPaaS platforms offer a suite of tools for managing integrations, including API management, connectors, and cloud-based data integration tools. These solutions can be broken down into two categories: traditional iPaaS and advanced iPaaS.

Traditional iPaaS platforms enable IT teams to accelerate integration and business process automation by providing developers with a suite of cloud services. These features enable more efficient development, execution, and governance of integration flows. However, these platforms require technical knowledge to manage. 

Advanced iPaaS solutions, like Celigo, go beyond the capabilities of traditional iPaaS systems by enabling business users to build, manage, and monitor their own integrations. These AI-powered platforms are designed with no-code or low-code environments that enable non-technical users to build integrations themselves. Advanced iPaaS solutions are also known for their scalability, with no practical limit to the number of applications, flows, or size of data.

Key benefits of application integration

When your systems are seamlessly connected, you can easily share information across applications. That’s why application integration can provide your company with a variety of benefits, including:

Improved productivity

When all of your systems are integrated, your teams don’t have to waste time jumping between software and manually reentering data. When integrations are built with a modern application integration solution, like an advanced iPaaS, employees are able to refocus their time on strategic tasks that propel your business forward. 

Better scalability

Integrated systems allow you to scale more easily, accommodating new applications and increased data flow without extensive reconfiguration. With the right integration solution, as your business grows, you can integrate additional systems with minimal disruption. This allows you to be flexible and agile as you grow.  

Enhanced data consistency and quality

Application integration reduces data silos, improving the accuracy and consistency of your data. When systems are interconnected, data is automatically synchronized and validated. This helps eliminate discrepancies and ensures that everyone in your organization has access to reliable, up-to-date information. 

Application agility

With integrated systems, you can transition to the newest and best applications more smoothly. The data you have stored on your legacy tools doesn’t have to be lost with application integration. You can connect it all with new systems, which makes switching to newer software easier. This agility allows you to stay competitive by quickly adopting innovative technologies that enhance your business processes and capabilities.

Facilitated process automation

Application integration can help facilitate process automation. Automating more of your business processes can give your organization three key benefits:  

Data consistency and synchronization

Integration ensures that data remains consistent and synchronized across all applications. For example, you can update customer information across CRM, ERP, and marketing platforms simultaneously. Changes made in one application are then automatically reflected in others without manual intervention. This consistency is crucial for maintaining data integrity and making informed business decisions.

Streamlined workflows

By connecting your applications, you can automate end-to-end workflows, reducing the need for manual intervention and minimizing the risk of errors. Automated workflows enable you to respond faster to business needs and improve overall efficiency. For example, an ecommerce order can trigger inventory checks, payment processing, and shipping logistics across different platforms.

Reduction of manual errors

Automation significantly reduces manual errors, enhancing the reliability and accuracy of your operations. When tasks are automated, you eliminate the inconsistencies and mistakes that often occur with manual data entry and processing.

Choosing the right integration solution

When you’re ready to begin application integration, here are some tips to help you choose the right integration solution: 

• Ease of use. Choosing a solution with a user-friendly interface is important for broad adoption within the organization.
• User demographics. Consider who will be using the tool. If your organization wants both technical and non-technical employees to be able to use it, you will want a tool that has no-code features where anyone can design integrations, like with Celigo. 
• Compatibility and flexibility. Your organization needs a solution that supports all of your applications and can adapt based on changing business needs. 
• Future-proofing. Think about how the solution can scale and evolve as technology advances. Choose one that’s scalable and ready to grow with you. 

How Celigo facilitates application integration

If you’re looking for a modern application integration solution, look no further than Celigo. Celigo is the only integration platform that’s built to handle today’s modern business challenges. It’s accessible and intuitive, for tech and business users alike. Celigo comes with prebuilt connectors, API management, real-time data synchronization, and built-in AI capabilities.

Request a demo to see how Celigo can transform your application integration.