Leverage the Cloud for Extended Enterprise Integration
Posted by Aaron Goldberg on February 24, 2011
Application Integration is just the first step of cloud integration
As part of my series on extending infrastructure across the cloud, I want to encourage IT professionals to think about using the Cloud as the critical integration platform that it is. Too often, we limit our thinking to the older application interface model that was first promoted in the ‘80s.
While there are certainly benefits that can be had with an application level of integration, the reality is that this is a shortsighted approach that will not play well in the long term, and will in fact create some costly obstacles as Cloud Integration moves forward in the coming years.
There are a few very important reasons that should lead you to take the integration project to a focus on B2B and multi-enterprise business processes. Among the most important of these are:
- Application integration does not allow you to insure security and compliance in a simple manner
- For larger groups collaborating in the Cloud, adherence to a single application standard will surely limit participation
- Difficulties in integrating business processes not contained in the application or that are currently manual and you need to automate
As you can see, the issue is to think beyond the first level implementation where Application to Application integration (A2A) may well be sufficient in the near term. And, to be fair, A2A integration does have a number of places where it has very real utility. The key, however, is to think beyond intra-enterprise to extended enterprise scenarios (aka B2B) and leave your options open wherever you can to minimize future limitations.
One of the most important benefits of B2B cloud integration is the ability to adhere to business rules and policies that may not be intrinsic to the application itself. The most common aspect is security, followed by compliance demands. The key is to define the integration process so that it includes adherence to your policies and mandates as an integral part of the orchestration and design, which is a capability most application integration tools do not possess.
The problem becomes even more acute when the business requirements for integration involve multiple applications. This is going to be increasingly common, especially as new methods and business processes driven by the Cloud breaks through traditional application boundaries. Also, many enterprises are now leveraging cloud-based applications in additional to traditional on-premise apps, creating a hybrid and more complex overall environment. What’s more, large enterprises are increasingly setting a strategic goal of consolidating ERP systems into a single global instance. All of these present challenges and opportunities for integration.
A second key element of Cloud Integration is the ability to easily and quickly add to the “network” of organizations that are linked. This is another situation where having a more flexible and open integration approach can drive substantial benefit. Rather than demanding that the entire federated organization use, or translate data, to a single application standard, such as in the old EDI world, you can enable flexibility by using a cloud B2B integration platform, and thereby diffuse application and standard disparity. This makes it easier to expand the “network effect”, which only drives up the value of the Cloud solution, not to mention adding more business value to your IT efforts.
Finally, there is the issue of how an application-centric view of integration can deal with business process elements that are not contained in the application. The need to add credit information to customer orders, or shipping issues, or weather conditions may create a real problem, and a lot of work. By raising the integration process up to the business process layer and extending it to a multi-enterprise community, you can handle more information and add data or community members more easily. The key is to have the tools that can manage this integration of multiple data/information sources in an efficient fashion.
This blog is part of Hubspan’s Expert Blog Series, featuring industry experts and analysts in cloud computing, integration, application architecture, and IT management.
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