What Is Cloud Integration?
The birth of cloud integration was a game changer. It revolutionized the way businesses approach integration and the age-old battle against data silos. Offering flexibility and scalability, cloud integration opened a world of new opportunities for organizations to connect disparate systems. Businesses have benefited greatly from the ability to combine all of their cloud applications as well as on-premises systems. This practice gives companies comprehensive access and visibility into their data as well as improved functional connectivity. Cloud Integration Definition
Cloud integration is a system of tools and technologies that connects various applications, systems, repositories, and IT environments for the real-time exchange of data and processes. Once combined, the data and integrated cloud services can then be accessed by multiple devices over a network or via the internet.
The Purpose of Cloud Integration
Cloud integration was created to break down data silos, improve connectivity and visibility, and ultimately optimize business processes. It is a response to the need to share data among cloud-based applications and to unify information components.
Cloud integration has grown in popularity as the use of Software as a Service (SaaS) solutions continues to increase. IDC predicts this growth will continue and that nearly one third of the worldwide enterprise application market will be SaaS-based by 2018.
Additionally, more businesses are operating with a hybrid mix of SaaS and on-premises applications, creating a greater need for progressive integration methods.
The Benefits of Cloud Integration
Companies who use cloud integration have synchronized data and applications, improving their ability to operate effectively and nimbly.
Other benefits include:
- Improved operational efficiency
- Increased flexibility and scalability
- Faster time-to-market
- Better internal communication
- Improved customer service, support, and retention
- Increased competitive edge
- Reduced operational costs and increased revenue
Cloud Integration Types and Methods
Integration in the cloud can involve creating cloud-to-cloud integration, cloud-to-on-premises integration, or a combination of both. Integrations can address different business components, including data and applications.
Data integration – The synchronization of data between repositories. Data can be processed, transported and/or transformed during data integration. This is a strictly data-related connection.
Application integration – Connects various applications and arranges continued functionality and interoperability. This is more than data sharing. It involves issuing requests and commands to trigger business events or processes.
Businesses have the option of building their own integration solutions or using a third-party provider to create cloud integrations. However, as the number of applications increases and cloud integrations grow more complex, it becomes far less scalable to build specialized in-house integrations that must be recreated for each project. Using a cloud integration platform empowers organizations to perform both application and data integration using an agile, scalable, reusable solution.
What is an Integration Platform as a Service (iPaaS)?
It’s no secret that cloud integration is one of the main challenges facing today’s enterprises. In order to meet the growing need for secure and reliable cloud integration solutions, several vendors have started to offer integration services known as Integration Platform as a Service (iPaaS). For more information about the category, take a look at Gartner’s report on enterprise integration.
What is an Integration Platform as a Service (iPaaS)
iPaaS is a cloud-based integration solution that is steadily gaining buzz, but—as with other cloud offerings—it is important to look beyond the hype for actual substance. One sure sign that iPaaS is securing its place as a legitimate category in the cloud computing stack is Gartner’s slew of research publications in the past several months on iPaaS, including “Gartner Reference Model of Integration PaaS.” This growing attention is a good sign for iPaaS vendors, but a few people may still be unclear about what iPaaS actually is or does.
In simplest terms, iPaaS is a platform for building and deploying integrations within the cloud and between the cloud and enterprise. With iPaaS, users can develop integration flows that connect applications residing in the cloud or on-premises and then deploy them without installing or managing any hardware or middleware.
Providing further definition and specificity to the iPaaS category, Gartner outlines a number of key functions in its reference model. These include tools and technologies that support the execution of integration flows, the development and lifecycle management of integrations, the management and monitoring of application flows, governance, and essential cloud features such as multitenancy, elasticity and self-provisioning. Gartner also sees iPaaS as a potential platform for the buying, selling, and exchange of integration flows (both out-of-the-box and custom-built patterns) between users, service providers, and integration providers.
Because the iPaaS model is still in its early stages, Gartner points out that iPaaS offerings that are currently on the market may not include all of the features in its reference model. Instead, Gartner identifies three categories of iPaaS vendors, each of which emphasizes a different area of integration: e-commerce and B2B integration, cloud integration, and Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) and Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) infrastructure.
Depending on the particular integration needs of an enterprise, some vendor options may be a better fit than others. For short-term integration needs, iPaaS offerings that focus on e-commerce/B2B integration and cloud integration provide simple solutions that quickly connect partner applications and cloud services.
Given the growing shift toward hybrid architectures, however, it would be a smart move to begin thinking about long-term integration strategies to support computing models that include both on-premises resources and cloud services. Of the three vendor categories, iPaaS offerings from vendors with a background in ESB and SOA provide the most balanced and robust set of capabilities for long-term integration and governance projects. Although Gartner points out that some of these offerings are currently in beta or development, it is clear that iPaaS vendors with expertise in ESB and SOA are in the best position to tackle systematic integration for the cloud era.