With disruption increasing every day, businesses are required to manage a wide range of software applications in order to drive value. It’s not easy because most applications are complex and expensive to maintain. But if you have modern enterprise application integration software in place, managing such disparate applications can become as easy as a pie.
Enterprise application integration (EAI) serve as a catalyst in helping companies streamline their business processes. Companies can rely on EAI to integrate multiple applications and systems across different business partner ecosystems. Overall, EAI gives rise to a flexible architecture that is efficient and cost-effective.
The Benefits of Enterprise Application Integration
Businesses need to adopt a cohesive operational approach to function in an effective way. They need to integrate a plethora of data sources as well as business processes present in their existing business ecosystem. With Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) software in place, companies can consolidate different applications (across in-house and cloud) and streamline business processes to build outcomes, including revenue and growth.
More often than not, business users leverage EAI tools with service-oriented architecture (SOA) and enterprise service bus (ESB). There are subtle differences between the two, however. For a better understanding, let’s dig deeper.
Difference between SOA and ESB
One can find myriad similarities among EAI, SOA, and ESB. But there are several specific differences as well. Here are some:
First, ESB software encompasses a model of service-oriented architecture. SOA enables companies to execute the process of enterprise application integration.
Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA): As per Gartner, SOA is a design paradigm that plays a central role in helping IT address and meet customers’ needs and requirements on time. It has a service design, which is based on business processes. It includes interaction models and rests on the reuse capacity of the infrastructure.
The easy-to-configure components and flexibility of SOA enable companies to consolidate various services that can be reused and reconfigured. Consequently, companies can launch applications to market, which finally lowers the total cost of ownership of integration and builds agility.
Enterprise Service Bus: Enterprise service bus software uses a set of rules that enables organisations to integrate multiple applications over a “bus-like” infrastructure. This technology enables users to implement new data connections between applications in an easy, secure, and speedy manner. It is a solution that can be leveraged for implementing a communication link between multiple software applications in a service-oriented architecture (SOA). Additionally, ESB software helps companies to manage tasks that are primarily based on structural and business policy rules and other application integration capabilities.
Take Your Business to the Next Level with Self-Service
Companies that use self-service-powered solutions can improve the efficiency of their enterprise application integration processes.
Give Power to Non-Technical Business Users: Self-service data integration gives power to non-technical business users to integrate different applications and data – at the speed of business. Legacy solutions, conversely, take weeks or months to consolidate applications. Business users can leverage pre-built application connectors, AI, machine learning, dashboards, and intuitive screens to integrate data and applications – easily, quickly, and securely.
Improve IT Productivity: Because business users can perform enterprise application integration steps, IT becomes free to drive other strategic tasks. That is to say, IT no longer needs to write long custom codes and perform complex EDI mappings for building connections. This increases IT’s productivity because it can use the time saved to run other strategic business projects.
Delight Customers and Accelerate Revenue Growth: Self-service-powered solutions empower non-technical business users to onboard applications and data up to 80 percent faster. As business workers are able to connect with customers sooner than before, they can address the needs and requirements of those customers and deliver the value promised to them on time. Customers become happy and satisfied. This helps companies create new revenue channels for the business as these customers are more willing to buy other products or services from the company and stay longer.
In short, self-service-powered solutions help companies integrate myriad applications and data much more quickly, thus improving their ease of doing business, increasing customers’ delight, and growing revenue.
