What is meant by Application Integration?
The term "application integration" refers to the process of linking different software applications within an organization to improve their collaboration and enable seamless data exchange. The goal of application integration is to eliminate information silos, optimize business processes, and increase efficiency.
Typical software functions in the area of "application integration":
- Data Integration: Consolidation and synchronization of data from various applications and databases.
- API Management: Management and utilization of Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) to facilitate communication between different software applications.
- Event-Driven Integration: Automation of processes through events and triggers that initiate actions in other applications.
- Middleware: Use of intermediary software that acts as a bridge between different applications to ensure interoperability.
- Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA): Use of loosely coupled services to facilitate the integration and reuse of software components.
- Data Conversion: Transformation of data formats to ensure compatibility between different systems.
- Workflow Automation: Creation and management of workflows that integrate various applications and processes.
- Monitoring and Troubleshooting: Monitoring of integration processes and identification and resolution of issues.