Nov 22nd, 2024
Best Cloud Integration Techniques to Build Bridges Between Applications
Today’s business world moves at breakneck speed. Keeping up with the changes requires businesses to be both fast and adaptable. In a world where users will abandon a web page because of a few milliseconds’ delay while loading, data lag and bottlenecks are unacceptable.
Cloud-based applications make it possible for businesses to connect quickly with customers, do large-scale data analysis, utilize machine learning algorithms, and more. But many businesses struggle to connect those services with their existing suite of apps. Cloud integration allows businesses to take advantage of lightning-fast cloud resources while also maintaining control of their on-site data silos and applications.
What Is Cloud Integration?
Cloud integration is the process of connecting data and apps from various cloud systems and on-site data centers. Whether the systems are public clouds, private clouds, or on-site silos, cloud integration allows data to move effortlessly between them so that partners, teams and departments within an organization can easily access and utilize it to make better business decisions.
Types Of Cloud Integration
There are 3 major types of cloud integration, and depending on your type of organization, you may need to rely on all of them.
- Cloud-to-Cloud Integration: Cloud-to-cloud integration establishes a connection between two or more completely cloud-based services. These cloud-based services could handle data storage, security, the user interface, etc., and may be managed by several different providers. If your organization relies on several cloud-based platforms, or if you are actively trying to resist vendor lock-in, you will want to consider cloud-to-cloud integration.
- Cloud-to-Premises Integration: Also known as “hybrid integration”, this type of integration connects cloud services with on-site data silos and servers. If you still manage some of your own IT structure in-house but are looking to incorporate or beginning to incorporate cloud-based services, hybrid integration will be something you need to consider.
- B2B Cloud Integration: Businesses that partner with other businesses, or with departments in other organizations, will need to think about B2B Cloud Integration, which specifically deals with establishing business-to-business data flow. This is not the same as Cloud-to-Cloud integration, where you pay for multiple cloud services that support your business; rather this is a two-way setup that facilitates communication between you and a partner organization.
Methods of Cloud Integration
There are several ways in which cloud integration can be achieved, whether that is by connecting data, connecting applications, connecting processes, or via middleware and automation.
- Data Integration: Data Integration focuses on consolidation of data from various resources into a single repository. The resources could be cloud-based or on-premises data silos.
- Application Integration: Involves linking various applications to work more efficiently together. For example, connecting a CRM system with an e-commerce platform so that an action on one platform triggers an action on the other.
- Process Integration: Process integration streamlines workflows across various systems, both cloud-based and on-premise. This is a slightly more complex endeavour, as it usually involves connecting multiple types of software and data centers across many levels of a business’s hierarchy.
- Cloud Integration Tools: No matter what type or method of cloud integration you need, there is a tool to help you achieve it.
- API Integration: This is how many cloud-to-cloud and application-based integrations are done. APIs allow applications to talk to each other, exchange data, and trigger actions across a network, usually via something as simple as HTTP.
- iPaas: iPaas stands for Integration Platform as a Service and refers to a type of software solution that simplifies the process of integration by providing a single suite of tools to manage all your cloud integration needs.
- Middleware: Middleware is an ad-hoc solution that can be integrated between any two systems to facilitate communication between those systems. It is slightly more difficult to do and requires more in-house knowledge to set up but can be a good solution for a company with a lot of complex systems and custom software.
Benefits Of Cloud Integration
The benefits of cloud integration, particularly when using iPaas or APIs to achieve it, are numerous:
- Cost-savings: This is the most-often touted benefit of integration. Increased efficiency, easier access to data, and more streamlined communication lead to better overall performance and decreased costs. Furthermore, cloud cost optimization and less reliance on on-site solutions cut cost dramatically.
- Better analysis: Making data more accessible at all levels of your organization leads to a more diverse team of people looking at it, more thorough analysis, better insight, and better business decisions.
- Efficiency: It goes without saying that high-speed data and application integration drastically increases efficiency, both for user-facing products and internal processes.
Challenges Of Cloud Integration
Despite its many benefits, cloud integration is not without its challenges. It can be extremely complex to set up, particularly if your organization relies on a lot of legacy systems. Often, it can require a complete overhaul of your data silos and applications, and it introduces a lot of new and unknown variables to the system.
Security is another top concern when integrating cloud services into your organization. It is paramount that you can trust the cloud systems you use to keep your data – and your customers’ data – secure. It is also ultimately your responsibility to ensure that any services you enlist comply with all privacy and security regulations.
Finally, monitoring and maintenance must be handled responsibly to keep the system running securely and efficiently.
Best Practices to Implement Cloud Integration
Laying out a step-by-step plan for your integration approach is the best way to ensure that your integration goes smoothly. If figuring out a solution on your own is beyond the scope of what is feasible for your organization to achieve on its own, consider hiring a cloud integration specialist or using an iPaas solution.
- Identify your needs: This stage involves assessing the existing IT infrastructure and identifying which applications need to be integrated. Why do you need cloud integration? What do you hope to achieve by undertaking it? What is your existing IT infrastructure, and do you currently use any cloud services?
- Choose the right tool: As stated before, iPaas and APIs are two exceptionally easy ways to begin to integrate cloud services into your software. But the tools you require will be unique to your situation and needs. Again, employing a cloud services specialist or integration team to design integration flows for you can make the process easier.
- Design and implement: Before you begin integrating solutions, make sure you have a complete design of the system, and all its data flows mapped out. Ensure that all the relevant stakeholders have been informed of upcoming changes and given a chance to add their input.
When implementing, you will need to employ rollback solutions and safety nets to keep existing systems online while data is transferred, or applications are linked. You might need to duplicate entire data houses, including security measures for those data houses.
- Test and monitor: Integration doesn’t end once the various APIs have been connected. A robust cloud system includes efficiency and performance monitors, security threat monitors, and automated tests before any deploy.
Start your cloud integration today
The right cloud solutions are no longer just a nice-to-have, they are a crucial part of any modern organization’s software solutions. Begin integrating your platforms today to take advantage of the scalability, efficiency and enhanced security of cloud services.
