The way we do business has changed over the years, majorly due to the evolution of technology. For the past few decades, large companies and small business owners have relied greatly on software applications to handle critical business services. From business intelligence to customer relationships, and even supply chains, many different aspects of businesses are handled with complex software. Integrating applications (like CRM, SCM, and many others) into the daily running of your company yield many great benefits. Below, we’ve detailed what application integration is as well as its main benefits.
What is application integration?
Before we look at its benefits, we need to understand what enterprise application integration is in its entirety. EAI is easily defined as how businesses bridge gaps between different software programs. When done correctly, the chosen application integration tool allows data to flow freely from one program or tool to another while providing suitable interfaces for proper data flow management. So, how can application integration help your business? We’ll touch on some of these benefits in subsequent paragraphs.
What are the benefits of application integration?
Below are a few benefits of application integration.
Information Sharing
One of the major challenges experienced by companies is interdepartmental interoperability. To ensure that your business thrives, there has to be consistent, clear, and instant communication among the multiple departments and components of your business. Application integration, when employed, ensures that all separate departments have quick access to data and all collated information. The coalition eliminates their need to further process your raw data, allowing them to be on the same page for better business operations.
Process Automation
The superpower of an enterprise application is its ability to streamline data from multiple software applications. For example, you can use data retrieved about clients’ demographics and purchasing behavior to send targeted emails to clients about certain products you have on sale. This will be made possible by integrating your CRM data with an email marketing platform like Mailchimp. Once the email is sent, you can integrate an analytics platform to gauge the success of your email marketing strategy. The ease with which integration is made possible helps improve your efficiency as a business, which increases your profitability.
Eliminating Complex IT Solutions
One of the easiest ways to diminish your effectiveness is working with multiple applications simultaneously. When you have to operate different applications simultaneously, their varying requirements can lead to the creation of a very complex framework that hinders your productivity. If the employees responsible for these tasks aren’t tech-savvy, they might end up avoiding the tasks altogether, causing a strain on the rest of your staff, especially the IT staff. With an application integration solution, you can meet the demand of your customers with little to no need for technical skills. The integrated software offers employees simplified IT solutions that are easy to organize and operate.
Identifying New Opportunities
The more novel your market opportunities are, the more likely you’ll increase your business income. Application integration strategy streamlines all client data, allowing you to identify your customer’s purchasing behavior, taste, and needs as they evolve. The ability to identify real-time changes in your customer behavior gives your departmental managers a chance to create new strategies and identify new market opportunities that’ll keep up with the market trends.
Reduced Costs
Working with different applications means you need to pay to keep all of them running. Servicing and maintaining applications consistently can create a dent in your finances, which affects your business in the long term. When these applications are merged into a single entity, not only do you enjoy streamlined data, you also get to spend less on your tools maintenance and daily usage. This is a great way to cut costs and stay financially sound.
We hope you’re now clear on what application integration is and how it can help your business.