The modern business environment requires organisations to operate efficiently and at the same time be innovative to counter their competitors. Thus, one may opt for the Enterprise Business Integration (EBI) as a way of achieving this. EBI is defined as an integrated system or a set of procedures for redefining linkages between different systems and applications that are used in a business. Thus, the effectiveness of processes can be increased, and productivity, in turn, can be improved, making the company’s costs lower. In the article below, you will learn how EBI or enterprise business integration alleviates operation problems and the advantages for commercial organisations.
Understanding Enterprise Business Integration
Enterprise Business Integration relates different systems and applications within an enterprise firm. This increases the collaboration and communication between departments as all the necessary information is shared regularly.
The purpose is to define a fluent and smooth system of data storing and circulation that will contribute to optimum decision-making and effective organisational activities. A combination of the two is possible with the help of certain utilities such as middleware as well as application programming interfaces, or in short, APIs.
Benefits of Enterprise Business Integration
Here are some of the common benefits of Enterprise Business Integration
- Improved Efficiency and Productivity
Fluency increases its efficiency and productivity when employees have easy access to the desired information by implementing an EBI. Integrated systems minimise the time spent in keying data manually and in searching for data using different systems so that the employees can be efficient in doing other work.
- Reduced errors and homogenization of data
Integrated systems guarantee that data is input once and can freely update all the enabled applications, minimising the occurrence of entry mistakes. Clean data means that all people in the organisation use the right information when making their decisions, improving productivity.
- Enhanced Communication and Collaboration
EBI helps the departments to find a common language as the systems interconnect. This makes it easier for employees to exchange information and work on projects; problems and solutions are even arrived at more rapidly and creativity increases.
- Cost Savings
The integration of systems helps to cut on the operational expenses hence reduction of manpower to embrace automatic control. Finally, it also introduces the cuts of IT expenses as the single platform can replace several systems, and thus, companies can eliminate numerous applications that require maintenance and upgrades.
- Improved Customer Experience
Serving the customers well is another benefit of an integrated system since it means that every time a business interacts with the customers, it is in a position to know all the relevant information about the individual concerned. This assists the company’s customer service representatives in providing proper and timely responses that will help to increase customer satisfaction and thus loyalty.
- Quicker Market Fluctuations Detection
EBI helps make enterprises more adaptable as it gives real-time information that the company can utilise. This enables the companies to make the right decisions regarding their market and respond to the changes within a short period.
Challenges of enterprise business integration
Here are a few challenges that comes with enterprise business integration
- Complexity
System integration is not an easy process because many organisations today possess multiple legacy systems that are often highly complicated. Managing all systems would be very challenging, therefore, it would require a good strategy to establish how each system would run.
- Cost
However, in the long run, EBI is known to have the capability of bringing about considerable reduction in costs though the initial outlay might be fairly massive. This can be through procuring good integration tools, and middleware and, the hiring of competent personnel to work in this area.
- Data Security
System integration implies data sharing in which critical information is transferred across different applications. This can be problematic as databases are integrated and such systems could be easily hacked. Companies are required to apply strict protection measures to prevent any losses of data.
- Change Management
The application of EBI introduces modifications in the business environment processes and procedures. They will also freeze part of the money required for training employees to work with the new integrated systems. Thus, handling this change is vital for EBI so this can be seen as a significant opportunity for the company.
Conclusion
EBI is an effective methodology in the organisation for many processes, which requires integration into the working environment. Integration of different systems and applications enables; management of data flow, inter-departmental communication and interaction, and the ability to change quickly in response to business environments. Though there is strong competition while integrating the processes and it may also involve high initial expenditure, it is a wise investment for organisations that want to survive in the current competitive environment.
