Stop failing to plan with your integration initiatives and start to plan for integration success. Over the past weeks, we have run precautionary warnings about the risks of failing to integrate systems and common mistakes in bad implementation. Heed our warnings and be careful you do not become a statistic for companies that failed.
Welcome Aboard Integration Success
We started this integration ride with companies that often forget to think about the enterprise in the enterprise service bus (ESB). Before getting back on the bus, we have to make sure that infrastructure capabilities are aligned to enterprise-level requirements and the company can put the E back in ESB.
Further down this ride, there were some companies that decided to lie in the path of the oncoming bus. Hiring programmers to write computer code might be a quick fix to a solution, but with different coders using different programming languages, it becomes impossible to attain a holistic picture of the company. Using a bus-based architecture will allow the company to manage connections with applications through one interface.
On the right side, you’ll see business improvement.
We continued this bus journey, but soon realized that everyone on it was not speaking the same language. Just like people from different countries and cultures, each business application has its own language and style of communicating. It quickly became clear that SOA (Service Oriented Architecture) interfaces are the translators that allow applications to speak a common language so applications can come together to provide information people need.
As the ride continued, we soon found that some companies left the station without their passengers on board. We must remember that technology initiatives like integration are not just about the tech, but also about the people. What companies need to realize is that everything is moving to cloud and mobile solutions, so integration can lower overall costs and transform business even more.
And to your left is business success.
Integration is the difference between succeeding and failing when it comes to having critical information available, and making decisions in real time. Don’t make a decision for integration on the cheap, just for integration’s sake. Moreover, do not procrastinate and fail to integrate at all before it is too late. Having the right solution will keep the bus clear of traffic and avoid collisions.
We have thoroughly covered how not to fail at integration and it is time to start to learn how to succeed. Don’t let the bus leave your company behind and start integrating now.
For more on how to integrate your systems to leverage Big Data, check out these Gartner reports:
Gartner: Magic Quadrant for Application Infrastructure for Systematic SOA Infrastructure Projects
