How ECN built a stable integration layer across SAP Business One and its specialist telco systems.
Electronic Communications Network (ECN), formerly Nashua ECN, is a fast-growing telecommunications provider in South Africa. The company runs SAP Business One for management and operates several industry-specific applications to run its network, serve customers, and manage the business. Keeping a single consistent record across those systems required an integration layer that could keep up with a fast-changing application landscape.
Multiple specialist systems needed to feed SAP, and SAP B1I was not the answer
ECN needed data from custom and industry-specific telecommunications systems to flow reliably into SAP Business One, so the business could operate from a single source of truth. SAP's own B1I integration tool presented hurdles, and the scale and variety of systems made direct integration difficult to build and maintain without specialist help.
The company ran lean and wanted to automate as much of the customer transaction as possible, adding manual reconciliation steps was not an acceptable answer.
Flowgear SAP connector, DropPoint, and an in-house team that could extend it
ECN selected Flowgear to handle integrations into SAP Business One. The Flowgear SAP connector exposed SAP APIs quickly and cleanly, replacing the B1I pain points. DropPoint provided secure connectivity to on-premise systems with good latency, and ECN's in-house team was able to build and extend integrations without heavy custom code.
Integration Developer Quentin Huggett noted that the team could write additional scripts for edge cases when needed and that Flowgear's support was responsive when they hit snags. The cost of Flowgear was also materially lower than SAP's native integration option.
Unified data, faster delivery, and a layer built for change
ECN achieved its goal of integrating specialist systems with SAP Business One, improving data consistency and speeding up delivery of new integrations. The integration layer is now a stable asset that the team can route new or replacement applications into as the telco application landscape evolves.
- SAP APIs exposed quickly using the Flowgear SAP connector, replacing B1I
- Secure on-premise connectivity via DropPoint with solid latency
- In-house team able to extend integrations without heavy custom code
- Integration cost lower than SAP's native option
- Stable layer ready for new or replacement telco applications
“Flowgear solved the integration issues we had with SAP B1I, and the Flowgear SAP connector enabled us to expose the SAP APIs quickly and easily. The cost of Flowgear was also much more competitive than using SAP's own integration solution.”
Stable integration layer for a changing stack
Telecommunications applications change frequently. ECN's goal is an integration layer that new or replacement systems can connect to with minimal disruption. With Flowgear in place, the team can interface new applications into the layer and move data into SAP Business One using established patterns.
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