Why integration should be on the business agenda

• Integration technologies can boost the annual growth of earnings.
• Many companies still overlook the potential of integration to accelerate digitisation.
• Integration reduces reliance on monolithic and traditional business systems without replacing them.
• mWtech helps our customers understand their integration options at every level of their operations and strategy.

The original computers may have taken up a room in space, but their impact on productivity and innovation were nothing short of incredible. Over the decades, transistors made way for integrated circuit and central processing units, raising speeds exponentially. Now, integration is creating the next evolution of computing performance and business delivery.

Integration matured in the last 20 years with broadband, microservices, software-defined systems and APIs. These technologies are hugely important for today's businesses. Digital transformation has become a prominent part of company agendas, yet few realise that integration is often the best way to realise it. As business focus shifts from hardware to software, integration has become essential to cut the costs of application development and maintenance.

The financial power of integration

Take supply chains, an obvious candidate for business integration. According to industry research, digitising supply chains has the lowest average activity level across digital transformation strategies. Only a tiny fraction of surveyed executives said supply chains were the focus of their digital strategies.

On average, companies that aggressively digitise their supply chains can expect to boost annual growth of earnings before interest and taxes by significant percent – the largest increase from digitising any business area – and thus, annual revenue growth.

Integrating supply chain components makes natural sense, so it's not surprising that digital integration's impact is so profound. Yet that value is evident in most parts of organisations. Examples include:

• Mainframe integration with modern web- and cloud-centric services;
• Data integration between marketing and sales activities;
• HR information linked to identity management, cyber security and payroll;
• Integration between banking systems and account software; and
• Data from output lines integration with scheduling systems.

There are many areas where integration can play a role, creating faster response times, improving and automating processes, bolstering security and supporting more accurate decisions. Integration should be among the leading digital considerations at the business level, not something left purely to IT teams.

Integration is a cultural choice

But if the advantages are obvious, why do many companies still overlook integration's importance?

Much of it has to do with history and culture. Historically, business systems tended to centralise. An enterprise buys a big ERP suite, expecting it to run everything using different modules. Culturally, businesses got used to buying technology in this fashion: go big, get everything in one go and then make it work. But it rarely materialised as well as expected. Today, companies can use several applications and integrate them with APIs and microservices. It's a much better and less expensive way.

Big applications still belong in companies. But they no longer have to do it all. Even a large ERP works much better once it integrates with other applications. When appropriately used, integration is arguably the most profound and impactful digitisation tactic for companies. Instead of throwing out older systems or relying dogmatically on expensive centralised software suites, integration done right lets you have it all.

The secret is to select an integration partner that understands these opportunities and how to align them primarily with business strategy and outcomes. Once integration is on your agenda, how do you make it a reality? Partner with mWtech.

mWtech makes integration work for your business

mWtech specialises in creating robust integrations at every level of an enterprise. We combine the best integration products and platforms with our teams of engineers and business analysts, finding ways to leverage our customers' existing digital assets. mWtech works with top vendors including Software AG, IBM, SAP and Oracle to accelerate digitisation at customers such as the South African and United States governments, the biggest South African banks and financial institutions, divisions within the Motus group, and logistics firms.

mWtech is more than a software house. We work closely with our customers to understand their strategy, goals and timelines, then create solutions that help realise those benchmarks. Our consulting capacity is as strong and respected as our technical capabilities. We combine extensive business and systems experience for our customers to consolidate, integrate and update their technology estates.

mWtech offers the following services:

• Natural and Cobol code integration through developing APIs with minimal or zero footprint;
• Data virtualisation via converting hierarchical into relational structures and providing single data views;
• API management in design and run time via smart gateways;
• Integration code and gradual optimisation of infrastructure;
• Real-time data analytics and intelligent monitoring;
• Cloud migration of established integration environments;
• Emergency ad hoc assistance with Software AG and and integration implementations and architecture advice;
• New integration product implementation on existing integration platforms, including but not limited to Software AG webMethods, Flowgear and WebSphere; and
• Longer-term development across multi-vendor integration environments.

Integration is a sure-fire way to create more revenue, lower costs and turn your organisation towards digital data-driven success.

Contact mWtech to learn more about our services or how we use integration to improve your business performance. Reach us at mwtech@middlewaretechnologies.co.za, (+27) 10 216 9114 or by visiting middlewaretechnologies.co.za.