Today businesses use digital interfaces to aggregate information from many back-end databases and systems. The way they manage data is constantly changing because they want to be able to use the insights from data. These insights can inform every aspect of a business, from hiring employees to offering a better customer experience.
Digital transformation can be complex and challenging because it requires changing not only processes and technology but people too. Leadership has to take ownership of transformation and ensure commitment from the top down for it to be truly successful.
A Digital Integration Hub (DIH) offers an excellent solution for businesses undergoing a digital Integration. A growing number of businesses are using a DIH to support their transformation initiatives so that they can happen smoothly without causing unnecessary disturbance. They are also getting additional business value by extending the architecture in order to support more use cases, such as business analytics.
The main challenge businesses face
A DIH solves one of the main challenges businesses face – the fact that data is stored in many external and internal systems and is not immediately available for processing. In order to utilize the data, API calls typically have to be made to multiple data sources for each action. This means that real-time processing is not a reality for many businesses and without this, it puts limitations on what they can offer customers in terms of response time and much more.
What is a Digital Integration Hub?
A simple explanation of a Digital Integration Hub is that it is like an ecosystem that offers enterprises a way to manage data and the analytical insights gathered from it in a cohesive way.
By decoupling back-end data sources from front-end API services, it enables the implementation of low latency and high throughput front-end API services. The API layer supports modern applications and makes it possible to gather data from many different sources and offer real-time access to data.
A DIH, therefore, delivers responsive APIs and reduces the workload on systems of record, whether they reside in the cloud or on-premise. Back-end systems are not overloaded with excessive API services-generated workloads. In-memory data grids are a key component of the architecture of a DIH. By inserting a high performance, in-memory database between back-end systems and the API management layer, this addresses many of the challenges.
Why does digital transformation matter?
Digital Integration can result in increased efficiency, better customer experience, more flexibility and increased profits. Strategies businesses employ vary depending upon their specific needs and challenges. However, there are certain commonalities that apply.
- Businesses need a platform or a services-based framework to build a set of services. They need to be able to amalgamate their services to make applications that serve the goals of the business.
- Businesses often sit with plenty of data without knowing how to store, process or utilize it. Data and analytics are two vital components of a successful business today. With the right business analytics, it is possible to make better decisions and boost business profitability.
- The ability to scale is important for any successful digital transformation.
- Digital transformation is difficult without a leadership committed to it and businesses need organizational vision, culture and talent if they want to turn data into actionable insights. If there is no strong leadership, digital transformation is likely to be chaotic and may fail.
- The transformation of security is often one of the biggest challenges businesses face.
- The ultimate goal is to deliver a better customer experience. Anything that improves customer experience increases the chances of retaining and growing a customer base.
Main goals for building a DIH
The traditional, siloed approach to integration creates some roadblocks that a DIH is able to overcome. An Application Programming Interface (API) is the software that allows two applications to talk to each other, and using a DIH simplifies the implementation of APIs. Using the right DIH lets the APIs do all the work and takes the pressure off legacy back-end systems. This offers many different benefits to businesses.
Main benefits of a DIH
- It accelerates the ingesting of data and processing times.
- This reduces latency and improves response time.
- It can scale to support peak times and back-end systems don’t take strain due to unexpected volumes. It, therefore, ensures operational efficiency at all times.
- Which offers a way for any enterprise system to have access to a single source of truth.
- It simplifies hybrid integration environments and offers more business flexibility. This is relevant to businesses who want to keep leveraging on-premise operational systems or who cannot move sensitive data to the cloud.
- It allows quick and effortless adding of new applications that work with business data.
- Well ensures better decision-making because decisions are based on machine learning insights in real-time.
- It allows for the replication of data across regions in real-time.
- It offers more self-service options for a better user experience.
Digital transformation is more difficult than any changes businesses needed to undergo in the past. Its success is dependent upon many factors, such as rethinking the approach to data processing and getting buy-in from leadership and across the whole business.
It does not necessarily mean ripping out and replacing existing systems with the latest and most modern ones and usually involves taking a step at a time in the right direction.
A final word
The first step businesses need to take is to assess their current systems, analyze their needs, see what needs are not being met and then properly plan their transformation.
Digital transformation is complex and if businesses do not go about it in the right way and plan properly, they could end up failing.
A number of businesses have invested a great deal in unsuccessful digital transformations. A DIH creates a connected ecosystem that helps to drive digital transformation in a way that offers the least disruption to a business and the most chance of success.
