Middleware technologies conceptualized in the 1990s were designed for stable, batch-oriented applications that ran behind a firewall, communicating only via XML and SOAP. The need now is for an integration solution that can handle both real-time and batch integration needs, that has been built for cloud and mobile usage as well as on-premise, and can work with a variety of communication formats and protocols.

In the past, integrations between applications were carried out using an enterprise service bus (ESB). But it was only large enterprises, with complex internal systems, and with technical skills and budget, who could implement an ESB. What modern businesses require is a better data transfer engine, but you don’t need an ESB for that anymore.

A more agile, cost effective, and more appropriate solution for application and data integration – that any type and size of business can use – is an integration platform-as-a-service (iPaaS). An iPaaS is a cloud-based integration platform that is used to build, deploy and orchestrate integrations between applications that can run anywhere – cloud, on-premise, and mobile.

Why you should invest in cloud integration

Here are the signs that the time has come to replace your ESB with an iPaaS.

• Today’s sophisticated and complex IT ecosystems render old-school integration tools less-than-agile in the face of a mobile and cloud-based initiatives.
• Maintenance and cost of the infrastructure needed to support the ESB is becoming a concern. Adopting an iPaaS requires no infrastructure installation, and costs are consumption-based, so you only pay for what you use.
• ESBs are highly technical, making it impractical for business users to operate. A modern solution is needed for internal, non-technical users to be able to at least run an integration to access data.
• Integration can no longer be so complex that it is the sole responsibility of IT. There is a growing demand for ad hoc integrations that are flexible, lightweight, and quick to create and implement.
• Scalability, availability, and resource constraints around integration services are causing IT to look at alternative solutions.
• The combination of traditional piecemeal integrations, and software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications with weak integration capability, is forcing business to create inefficient workarounds to enable data integration.
• As application program interfaces (APIs) become an increasingly important part of an enterprise’s IT ecosystem, a better solution is needed to build and manage your own APis, or make use of third-party APIs.
• With the proliferation of internal siloed business applications and SaaS solutions, the security of data transferred between on-premise systems and via the cloud is becoming a concern. An integration platform is required that enables IT systems to be streamlined and simplified for more robust and secure data flow.

You could likely benefit from a cloud integration platform if any or all of these signs apply to your organization. A cloud integration platform provides a single, comprehensive solution that securely and reliably links on-premise legacy systems with newer, cloud-based ones for seamless, end-to-end infrastructure connectivity. An integration platform such as Flowgear dramatically streamlines and automates integration across multiple geographic locations and a variety of on-premise and cloud-based apps and data centers, minimizing the risk and cost.