Before you Go!

Integration is the process of combining one thing with another so that they function as a whole.

All systems require integration. As a system grows it becomes more complicated. The more connections developed within the system — the more fragile it becomes. Every new interaction between different parts of the system creates a new dependency, no matter how small or niche this interaction may be. In a large system, every interaction that does not work has the potential to topple the entire system.

Successful integration is an art. Once you have established the goals of your system, you must decide which products, technologies and pieces are necessary to accomplish these goals. Then, you must carefully assemble the pieces together so that they speak to each other, do not contradict or cancel each other out, and work together in a order that is both sensible and efficient.

Before developing a new system, detailed exploration is required. You must ensure that all the relevant stakeholders are on board and understand what their function is within the complexity of the system. At the time of vendor selection, send out RFPs to ensure that your vendors can meet your requirements and the requirements of your system. Dealing with this at the beginning of the process will avoid problems later. From the very first development meeting, careful attention must be paid to the requirements of the system and the different pieces that will need to be integrated together to ensure its smooth running. Constant reevaluation during the integration process will allow for troubleshooting and problem solving before these problems affect your customer.

Integration takes place both within your own company and can involve third parties. Imagine you are building a wall of Lego. You may hold two pieces and all you need to do is work out which one goes where. Another person may be holding the pieces that you need to build your wall. You need to work out how you can use their pieces. Perhaps, you have one piece and a second person has the piece that fits it exactly. You need to compose a strategy where you can use both your pieces together to build a strong wall.

There are many core concepts that must be taken into account during the development and integration process. First, make sure that all your requirements are listed and accounted for. Then, answer the following questions:

The next stage in development requires a company to decide which parts of the system will be controlled in-house and which will be bought or collaborated with a third party or vendor. When choosing a vendor who is outside your company and will provide a key component of your system, there are many considerations that should be considered during the RFP stage and not after signing a agreement.

Let’s look at some examples to show how many different factors must be taken into account when integrating systems within a company and integrating third party systems into a company. Thinking through the difficulties and possible solutions before integration allows for a much more successful integration. Being able to recognize patterns based on previous experience is key to pre-integration analysis. Learning from your successes and mistakes is pivotal.

Example 1 — You run a startup and you are integrating with a large enterprise on an innovation. Large corporations are not used to working with small startups. They work very differently with more people on a team and projects that progress much slower. They may have bureaucratic procedures that you find to be time consuming and unnecessary. The project that they are doing with you is just one small part of their large organization — for you this project is critical for the success of your whole organization! Their risk is smaller than yours. However, it is easy for the startup to place too much importance on integrating with a big, well-known organization leaving to over investment or too much trust that “this big organization must know what they are doing”. These traps could be harmful to your startup.

Example 2 — You are a project manager for a big corporation. You are building a critical system and require a piece of unique IP/technology that is only found in a small startup. While developing this unique IP internally is completely out of scope for the project, the small startup cannot support your required usage volume. The product team of the big corporation may have to adjust their plans, and maybe even adjust the customer experience to allow for the limitations of the smaller company. This requires flexibility and creative thinking from you and your team, in order to incorporate this new technology into your system in a way that will increase the user experience.

Example 3 — You run an eCommerce business and wish to integrate a specific successful SaaS CRM technology into your system in order to create a high volume, real-time, two-way integration. This pushes the limit of what the original product was designed to do. Even if the SaaS CRM team are excited at the opportunity to develop their product in a new direction, you must consider that because the original product was not designed for what you have in mind, it may not be a successful integration. It can create a lot of maintenance and unexpected lags due to the fact that the CRM is out of your control and can not necessarily support the volume of transactions required. This means that you will have to invest a lot of effort in working around the problems to create a good experience for the internal stakeholders as well as affected clients. Is it worth it?

Considering the problems and pitfalls before integration is not doomsday mongering or negative thinking. Rather it is the smart, forward thinking action of a clearly thought out, well planned strategy. Pattern recognition is the key to successful integration. It allows you a glimpse into the future, to avoid obstacles and to realize your goals faster than the competition, in a smooth, pain-free integration.

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