Enterprise Application Integration has become an integral part of business operations for many organizations. IT professionals can take a variety of approaches to EAI, including using custom solutions and packaged software products.
It’s also a key topic for IT professionals who are tasked with implementing new or existing Enterprise Application Integration solutions whether they’re part of an IT department or as part of their role as an enterprise architect or project manager. The major reason behind this can be the wide range of benefits that Enterprise Application Integration offers. But what good will it do if you don’t even know what the concept is?
Therefore, in this article, we are going to discuss what EAI is, why to use it, its advantages, and what kind of EAI models you can use for your business. So let’s get started.
What is Enterprise Application Integration?
Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) is a crucial tool for integrating disparate applications and services into a cohesive whole, which results in better business processes and greater IT efficiency in the business architecture of an enterprise.
An enterprise application integration project may include any number of tasks such as data transfer, scripting, workflow automation, and more. In some cases, multiple applications may even need to be integrated into one process.
Why Implement Enterprise Application Integration?
The need for enterprise application integration is driven by the need for companies to create a seamless experience for their customers, employees, and partners. The ability to provide a single, unified view of business data across an organization’s systems gives businesses increased productivity and efficiency.
Benefits of Enterprise Application Integration
- Interoperability is one of the key benefits of enterprise application integration (EAI). The ability to connect disparate systems and applications, through a common interface, allows for seamless business processes, increased productivity, and higher-quality data.
- Another benefit of using an enterprise application integration solution is that it can allow for real-time processing where there are no delays or delays in processing when compared with non-integrated systems.
- One of the main benefits of enterprise application integration is that it allows for seamless communication between the various applications, which can then be used by employees to complete their tasks more efficiently. For example, if you are an accountant at a law firm and need to track clients’ bills as they’re paid, it would be very helpful if you could see all of your client’s bills in one place. You could also pull information from outside sources into this system so that you can provide better customer service or manage billing more effectively.
- Process automation can be achieved through integration and automation. The integration of different systems, such as ERP and CRM, enables the business to automate certain processes and improve efficiency. APIs are used to obtain automation which becomes helpful in achieving seamless integration between all the business systems. APIs allow a business to connect with other businesses to automate processes that they could not have done otherwise.
- EAI also enables companies to improve their overall productivity as well as reduce costs by leveraging multiple business applications and processes effectively. Companies that implement EAI strategies can expect to see improvements in their daily operations, communications, and interactions with partners and customers because of operation consistency.
- Another benefit of EAI is that it allows for improved productivity and efficiency by reducing the number of systems used by an organization. By unifying these systems into one integrated application, users can access all the relevant information at once without having to navigate between multiple systems or applications.
Five Models for Enterprise Application Integration
Point-to-Point Integration
Point-to-point integration is an application that is designed to exchange data in one direction only. If you are using this model, you can’t exchange any kind of data between two different systems. You can only do it between two points of the same system. However, the same system won’t be able to process the data. To obtain processed results you have to send that data to another system.
Hub-and-spoke integration
Hub-and-spoke integration is the most common type of enterprise application integration. In this model, there are two main components: a hub that contains all the logic and data of an application and spoke nodes that connect to the hub and provide access to the data. The hub handles all requests coming in through its API, while the spoke nodes handle requests coming in through their APIs. The spoke nodes also send data back to the hub as needed.
Bus Integration
This is an integration between two or more applications that are running on separate computers. This model is often used in enterprise environments where there are multiple applications requiring access to a database. The application components communicate via a message bus, which allows the components to share data and perform functions without affecting other applications.
Middleware
Software that exists as a common ground between different functionalities and applications is known as Middleware. It can provide business logic, data access, or presentation services. A middleware product may provide a complete API for one or more applications or it may provide only a portion of an API such as a query language or set of data formats.
Microservices
Microservices are an approach to integration that can be used for large-scale enterprise applications. They’re an alternative to more traditional approaches like application integration or SOA.
Microservices are modular, distributed applications that each contain their code and data. Each microservice operates as a fully independent system. In this way, they can be configured, deployed, and maintained independently of other microservices in the same application or across multiple applications.
Final words
Enterprises are becoming more complex with the increase in the number of devices, sensors, and software applications used to run their business processes. The integration of these systems into one platform is essential for them to be able to process data faster and make better decisions about their operations.
But before you go out implementing EAI, you need to know that a successful EAI implementation depends on many factors: the number and nature of the systems involved in an integration project; the resource requirements for each step; and the degree of flexibility required by each system.