Every day, more applications, processes, and systems are moving to the cloud, and for good reason. The cloud eliminates the need for extra infrastructure while offering rapid scalability and maximum flexibility.
However, today’s IT systems are highly complex beasts, utilizing myriad apps, channels, platforms, and databases. Integration can be a challenge that can cost a company not only time and money, but the competitive edge every business needs to succeed.
The answer is a highly-evolved, cloud-based solution that effectively and efficiently ties together on-premise systems – even proprietary legacy systems – and newer cloud services such as SaaS. While traditional integration appliances and service-oriented architecture (SOA) may have been adequate for on-premise systems and even offsite third party integration, the cloud can present some unique challenges, especially for IT systems developed to operate in a hardwired on-premise environment. That’s where a cloud integration platform comes in.
An integration platform built specifically for the cloud offers three valuable benefits:
1. Total flexibility with no infrastructure
A cloud integration platform requires no additional on-premise infrastructure, so there’s nothing to install, no new proprietary hardware or training needed, and simple browser-based management. The cloud also provides strong support for web application programming interfaces (APIs), even previous-generation APIs and interfaces, so programs are up and running and talking to each other in minutes instead of weeks.
2. No software development
Interfacing legacy systems with newer apps and SaaS often required layers of additional software, patches, and APIs to tie them together and ensure compatibility. A cloud integration platform eliminates all that. Browser-based, drag-and-drop design canvasses enable users to quickly and easily connect workflow elements. Processes can be created visually, making workflows easy to design and understand, even for non-technical users. Descriptive tagging and the absence of complicated software code make it easy for managers to review and approve for faster implementation.
3. Seamless integration
A truly seamless cloud integration platform enables secure connections between all approved on-premise systems and the integration platform. Flowgear uses software agents we call DropPoints that install in the client environment enabling Flowgear to safely and securely integrate with legacy software or apps that are firewalled off from the internet. These comprehensive, lightweight interfaces manage all aspects of system communication including security, data compression for more efficient transmission, and even data recovery if connectivity is disrupted for any reason. The result is truly seamless, ubiquitous on-premise/cloud integration that significantly reduces implementation time, effort, and cost.
Fully cloud-based integration platforms create “many-as-one” network functionality between critical on-premise operations and more scalable cloud services while providing crucial end-to-end system visibility. The result is a more robust, secure, and flexible system that can help reduce IT implementation, monitoring, and maintenance costs.
