Predictions and Guidelines for Enterprise Application Integration

Application Integration Forecast

Below are some predictions for the near‑future of application integration.

1. Rise of Application Integration

Analysts predict that corporate spending on application integration will exceed current levels. The convergence of cloud, mobile, social, and information forces will drive business‑process innovation but will also cause a surge in the number and complexity of applications, devices, cloud services, and data sources to be integrated. Enterprises will also engage in more B2B integrations with external partners.

To address integration challenges, organizations should:

Adjust IT budgets to accommodate the increased cost of integration over the next five years.

Prepare a more agile, distributed, and federated organizational model to handle the growing prevalence of integration.

Become familiar with the variety of products and services available for integration and expand the technology portfolio with solutions that support rapid cloud‑ and mobile‑driven integration projects.

Understand the factors to consider when selecting a fundamental integration approach.

2. Data Integration on Mobile Devices

With the proliferation of mobile devices, data integration on mobiles will account for about 20% of integration spend. Mobile apps need to access functions and data that are traditionally available only on servers, and they must handle intermittent network connectivity and variable throughput. To mitigate these issues, mobile apps will increasingly cache data based on user role, location, or other policies.

Measures to solve mobile integration problems include:

Allocate resources to support inevitable mobile device and app requirements.

Invest specifically in new mobile integration skills and technologies, which may differ from existing capabilities.

3. Integration Beyond the Enterprise Firewall

In the future, more than two‑thirds of new integration flows will extend beyond the corporate firewall. B2B integration remains the main driver, though the definition of B2B is expanding. Organizations are looking to replace legacy EDI translation technologies while adding more complex, collaborative processes with external partners.

Recommendations for firewall‑beyond integration:

Consolidate the number of products used for internal and external integration as much as possible.

Establish a platform that connects A2A integration products with external endpoints, or at least combine two best‑of‑breed products to cover both needs.

Ensure the platform includes necessary endpoint security and governance capabilities.

Application Integration Platform

Application infrastructure (middleware) is the foundational software for executing and integrating business applications both on‑premise and in the cloud. Traditionally delivered as software, Platform‑as‑a‑Service (see Figure 1) now enables companies to deploy applications in the cloud and integrate them with internal systems. This infrastructure aligns IT with business goals and supports strategies such as application modernization, zero‑latency enterprise, end‑to‑end processing, improved vendor/customer integration, activity monitoring, and data‑quality enhancement. It is essential for flexible, seamless participation in ERP upgrades, B2B e‑commerce, and Service‑Oriented Architecture (SOA) initiatives.

Figure 1

Use this structured approach to build application and integration platform plans:

Develop strategy and plan: Draft a charter, align the project with business objectives, define scope, set resources, budget, governance, and integration‑infrastructure standards.

Select solution: Define requirements, issue RFP, analyze market, evaluate vendors, choose technology and service providers, negotiate SLAs and contracts.

Build: Design technical implementation, develop workflows, forms, UI, manage risks, define governance structures, staff the Integration Capability Center, and establish success metrics.

Application Integration Guide

Because forces such as cloud, mobile, information, and social are increasingly intertwined, most organizations’ application portfolios are becoming more complex, with many new applications deployed via mobile devices and external partners in the cloud.

Numerous integration methods—such as Integration Platform as a Service (iPaaS) for cloud‑service integration (CSI) and traditional Application‑to‑Application (A2A) platforms—add to this complexity, especially as integration flows move outside the enterprise DMZ, challenging the skill sets of Integration Capability Centers (ICCs).

Before launching any integration project, follow this guide:

1. Identify What to Integrate

Large application portfolios present many integration challenges; you must identify both the components of the portfolio and the items that need integration, typically including:

Applications

Cloud services

Data

Processes

Trading partners

2. Define Project Scope

After identifying integration targets, clarify the project scope to determine which solutions meet the integration needs. Common scopes are:

Application‑to‑Application (A2A) integration within the enterprise.

Integration of internal applications with external entities (B2B, cloud‑to‑on‑premise, mobile, OT).

Integration of applications and services outside the enterprise (cloud‑to‑cloud).

3. Decide Deployment Consumption Model

Choose how to deliver integration capabilities, such as:

Commercial off‑the‑shelf software (COTS)

Open‑source software (OSS)

Appliances

Cloud‑based services

Integration brokers (IB)

4. Determine When to Federate

Federation means enabling interoperability and information sharing across different systems. Typical scenarios for federated integration include:

Building applications that consume existing services from other domains.

Linking multiple Integration Capability Centers (ICCs) together.

5. Align Integration with SOA, BPM, and Cloud Initiatives

Most large organizations have major applications (e.g., ERP), SOA, BPM, and cloud programs. Ensuring that integration practices are coordinated with these initiatives adds value.