System integration: necessary evil or critical business enabler?

What is system integration and why does it matter?

The evolution of integration in business systems has seen significant milestones and challenges. In its early stages, integration was often labor-intensive and prone to errors, which led to a widespread perception of business integration as a cumbersome but unavoidable task.

Despite these challenges, the drive to streamline operations and improve data flow across different systems in quality management, document management, and enterprise information management increased the efforts to improve business integration technologies.

Pezzini: “Presenting integration as a burden or a business driver is provocative on purpose. We can all relate to the person whose task it is to make systems work together and to find someone who can do this for them. Because, on average, business integrations are ‘ugly, difficult and costly’.”

“On the other hand, if done well, business integration supports three strategic business goals:

1. Reducing costs and improving efficiency and productivity
2. Enabling business agility and change
3. Building differentiation via innovation (by creatively assembling ‘commodity’ systems)”

“Moreover, it also positively impacts the customer and employee experience and provides insights and situational awareness. So, if you want to put business integration on the company agenda, make sure you talk to your senior executives about all the above advantages – not just about efficiency.”

Current system integration landscape

Current trends in business system integration emphasize the importance of agility, scalability, and real-time data access. Organizations are increasingly adopting hybrid integration platforms (HIPs) that combine on-premise and cloud-based systems to create a more flexible and responsive IT environment.

The rise of microservices architecture, where applications are built as a collection of loosely connected services, also underlines the need for robust business integration capabilities. Additionally, the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) in integration processes is gaining traction, enabling predictive analytics, automation, and enhanced decision-making. Pezzini: “AI and integration have a symbiotic relationship: integration enables AI and AI enables integration. As the MIT Center for Information Systems Research said in a 2016 paper:”

No digital transformation without integration, as integration is the basis for competition in the digital economy.

“As businesses continue to embrace digital transformation, the role of business integration technologies becomes even more critical. These tools not only streamline operations, but also provide a foundation for innovation, allowing organizations to leverage new technologies and stay competitive in a rapidly evolving market.”

This is ever so true in the business of information supply chains, quality management, and digital asset management. From back-office advantages of automating repetitive manual processes to customer-facing innovations such as highly personalized content experiences, the days of DAM systems as standalone software are long gone.

Interested to find out more about the development of DAM systems and their business integration options? Read our in-depth article about the current status of DAM integrations.

WoodWing and the power of pre-built integrations

If you want to truly and fully benefit from DAM, EIM, and quality management, an integrated ecosystem of applications is a prerequisite. That's why this is one of the pillars of WoodWing’s success: smart, cost-effective and rapidly available integrations that ensure a unified integration platform where digital assets and information can be created, managed, accessed, and distributed effortlessly. Such a holistic approach not only enhances productivity, but also drives better decision-making and fosters innovation, making it an indispensable strategy for any forward-thinking enterprise.

Jeff Gapp, Product Manager WoodWing Connect: “Our pre-built integrations (PBI) are built using WoodWing Connect, WoodWing's integration platform that links our tools with 3rd-party systems. These business integrations are meant to meet a set of simple requirements: they should be easy to deploy, modifiable to meet extra requirements, and affordably priced.”
Fabian Stenger, Strategic Global Integration Executive, adds: “We have developed an extensive range of PBI’s in all sorts of categories. For example: AI tagging, AI content transformation, project management, messaging, and reporting.”

If you want to find out what PBI’s are currently available to streamline your workflows and enhance productivity, you can check WoodWing's Integrations Marketplace or get in touch with our system integration experts directly.

Start exploring the benefits of system integration

There’s only one way to find out what benefits system integration has for your organization: start exploring! Only then will you discover how it can drive innovation, streamline operations, and enhance both customer and employee experiences.