Running a business can be incredibly difficult. The whole organization needs to be on the same page with respect to not just everyday activities but long-term decision-making as well. For this reason, it is imperative that the technology that is being used by each and every member of the company is always in perfect sync. To make that happen, businesses turn towards system integration services that will bring all their sub-systems together and help them run hand-in-hand.
Today, we will talk about the various organizational benefits you can gain from employing professional software system integration mechanisms to your company’s digital systems. Our discussion will be centered on administrational convenience, cost-efficiency, consolidation of data and sub-modules, and security measures.
Easier management
By consolidating all the modules of an expansive system, life becomes easier for all those people who interact with that system.
Let us suppose that your current tech setup has a standalone system for the Finance department. Every month, when the time comes for the Human Resources department to work on the processing of payroll, it builds up a mountain of emails travelling back and forth between the two departments, requesting access to the information each department needs from the other. With an integrated system, both departments can access the parts of the database that they need to without having to go through extra, unnecessary steps and wasting precious time, making crucial business processes more efficient and easy to manage.
Another problem that software system integration solves is the issue of outdated data. When exchanging data offline, whether in the form of bulky stacks of paper or via electronic transfer (flash drives, emails etc.), the data might become outdated or obsolete by the time it reaches the person who requested it in the first place. Often, this data could also be overwritten. Person A at one end of the chain might have updated the price of a particular manufactured unit from X to Y. Person B, unaware of this action, would continue to process this unit at its old price, X. If this phenomenon happens to critical data, it could result in huge losses for your business. Therefore, it is important to keep your systems integrated and synchronized. API development and integration, particularly in data-intensive corporations, will empower users to gain access to up-to-date data at all times and work in better collaboration with each other.
Cost-efficient storage
Managing multiple standalone systems which are in some way or other related to each other can be a costly activity in terms of both time and money. Having multiple data stores within a single organization means you will have to look after their regular maintenance and upkeep too. On top of that, there is the cost of expensive hardware and software required to set up these data stores and keep them up and running at all times. Some of this software may be licensed, which would incur high costs for the company on a regular and recurring basis. All of these costs will be significantly reduced if you choose to employ reliable system integration services and consolidate your database.
Holistic analytics
In order to make the best possible decisions for your business, it is important that you take into consideration all the relevant information that is available and figure out how to use it best. For the best possible analysis, your data needs to be recent, fresh, up-to-date, and accurate.
With separate or standalone systems that have their individual respective data stores, you will have to collect and collate all of that data. Then comes the part where you unify it before you can make any decisions based on that information. Storing multiple copies of the same data can cause various problems. For example, it might cause a significant delay in updating one piece of information in all data sources. Another problem is the data formatting. For example, in one file, the date format might be MM/DD/YYYY, while in another file, the format might be DD/MM/YY. Compiling the data from these two sources would be a hassle since you would first have to make sure that the format is the same. Otherwise, it might cause replication or other errors.
With software system integration, you can use a single, unified database to store all the data that pertains to a particular subject. This will not only prevent duplication but also avoid inconsistency when the time comes to combine these data and analyze them for the purposes of critical decision-making for the business. Proper API development solutions can be put in place to make sure that the data can be easily accessed by relevant stakeholders as needed.
Improved security
There are two aspects of security when it comes to software system integration: internal and external.
With reliable API integration services, you can make sure that the information system being used at your organization allows appropriate access to the system’s users according to their roles. With proper user access control, you can rest assured that a particular user will only be allowed to access those parts of the system and data which directly concern them.
Now, let us talk about the possibility of external threats to your system. The biggest concern is hackers and other cybercriminals who you worry might get into your system and end up stealing, erasing, or corrupting critical data. With multiple standalone systems, you will have to spend time and money to individually set up security protocols for each system. This can quickly drain your resources. With a single system, you only need to put in place one well-done security system that will take care of the entire informational store. It will also be cheaper and quicker to update one security system compared to multiple different ones when the need arises.
Both of the above types of security concerns can easily be tackled if you decide to work with experienced software system integration and API development companies. Custom integrated systems and APIs can have their unique security mechanisms that are more efficient at regulating user access and are harder to crack for cyber attackers.