A Complete Guide to Cloud Integration

Can you guess the amount of data businesses produce every day? 328.77 million terabytes! (a terabyte of data is equivalent to 472 hours of broadcast-quality videos)

That’s huge, right? This amount of data allows many businesses to make better decisions and stay ahead of time. However, not many companies have been successful in doing this. More than 90 percent find it challenging to make data available in a format usable for analytics. 

Suppose you want to capitalize on this data and have a comprehensive view of your customers and industry. In that case, you need a way to combine all the essential business data at one source and analyze it. 

That’s where cloud integration comes into the picture. In this blog, you will learn all about cloud integration and how you can implement the same.

A quick roadmap

• What is Cloud Integration
• Cloud Integration Types 
• Benefits of Cloud Integration
• Challenges of Cloud Integration
• Use Cases of Cloud Integration
• Providers of Cloud Integration

What is Cloud Integration

Cloud integration combines all cloud-based systems or applications and the on-premise systems, enabling the sending of data and processes back and forth. Thus, it consolidates all the scattered data from various systems or applications. This helps organizations access data efficiently and make better decisions.

For example, if you merge your CRM with a marketing automation system, your representative can convert the lead faster. This is because a lead can automatically be routed to the correct representative when it reaches a certain point. 

With this, you can increase your contact rates by 70% by making a few more attempts since sales reps never follow up with 30% of leads. 

Cloud Integration Types 

Based on Business Components

Data

Data integration captures all the data from different cloud-based resources and transforms (the raw and unstructured data) into a unified data repository. This structured information can be helpful for a specific use case. For example, transferring data from your Shopify website (cloud-based) to your on-premise inventory management system.

Application

With cloud-based application integration, you can command or send a request to a cloud application to trigger a business process. It connects various cloud applications to create a streamlined IT infrastructure. 

This helps you link the on-premise and cloud-based applications in real time, leading to increased coordination. The application integration can also streamline repetitive tasks, freeing up your business resources. 

This way, some applications that operate independently (often leading to silos and inefficiencies in data sharing) can be connected, leading to seamless data exchange. For instance, you can connect CRM to the inventory management system, enabling the inventory to update automatically when a new order is placed. 

Based on the location of the data

Cloud to Cloud 

When you integrate different cloud computing platforms, it is called cloud-to-cloud integration. It enables the transfer of information between Cloud Native Application Development servers or platforms. As more businesses rely on different cloud native services, this integration will continue to expand. An example of this can be integrating your cloud-based website into payment gateways.

Cloud to On-Premise

Contrary to cloud to cloud, this integration involves combining on-premises applications and servers with cloud-based servers or platforms. This way, businesses can take advantage of the flexibility and technology of Cloud Native Application Development while maintaining the existing on-premise setup. This hybrid setup offers many benefits, such as lower cost, increased security, and the ability to adapt faster and be more innovative. 

Cloud Integration: How Your Business Can Benefit

• Bring All Departments Together

86 percent of respondents in a recent survey believed that lack of collaboration had caused the failure of projects on which they had worked. When all departments work differently and have different applications, there is a chance of discrepancies between these departments, leading to multiple objectives. 

However, with Cloud Native Development Services, you can enable real-time collaboration between different applications and data. ‘This allows the transfer of crucial information across departments, leading to streamlined workflow and positive results. 

• Take Better Decisions

With cloud integration, you can get the best of both: on-premise and cloud. So, you can use your legacy system data and the latest cloud application data. Plus, some cloud applications offer dashboards and reports, allowing each department to understand what is happening and why it is happening. Thus, they can take action quickly and confidently. 

• Cost Control and Reduction

 This benefit is related to the previous one. As you get a detailed 360-degree view of your business in real-time, you can quickly determine any inefficiencies or bottlenecks in your operation. This helps you eliminate these issues faster, leading to cost savings and less wastage. Also, it is easier and cost-effective to implement, manage, and deploy integration than hiring an IT team or outsourcing the same. 

• Lower Turnaround Time

Cloud Native Development Services enables an automated flow of information across departments, leading to efficiency in data management and consistency in decision-making. This can help your organization to deliver services faster and better.

• Adherence to Industry Standards

 Customer data is a valuable asset, regardless of the industry in which you belong. And to avoid any misuse of that data, you need to store and maintain it as per industry standards like HIPAA, GDPR, and PCI DSS. This makes the role of Cloud Native Application Development critical, as with cloud integration, businesses can streamline their workflow and stay compliant with industry standards. 

• No Duplication of Data

When you have multiple teams, different applications support each of their functions. This increases the chance of having the same data stored in other systems, which can lead to discrepancies after the update. With Cloud Native Services, all the data is retrieved in a single repository. Also, there is a real-time update of data. This avoids the risk of duplicity and outdated data.

• Scalability and Agility

Data silos can hamper your capability to adapt faster as they prevent the flow of information. However, cloud native development services reduce data silos leading to better productivity, resource allocation, and business growth. This also allows your organization to scale faster and adapt to changes successfully.

Cloud Integration Challenges

• Shifting Large Data

Moving high-volume data from the cloud requires extensive strategies for error-free integration. Also, network latency (the time taken to transfer data from one point to another) is a critical part of Cloud Native Application Development.

And even tiny latency can affect the performance and user experience, and sometimes businesses can lose opportunities. Remember when you left a website just because the checkout and order processing took a lot of time? This can happen when there is high latency in a cloud-based e-commerce setup.

• Security Concern

This can become a primary concern in Cloud Native Development Services. The chances of theft, leakage, or unauthorized access grow as the data is stored with a third-party vendor. Plus, crucial data like customer information and business data become a target of cybercriminals. However, you can avoid this with end-to-end encryption and regular updates.

• Difficulty in ETL

ETL (extract, transform, load) is a process of extracting data from various sources, transforming it as per target system requirement, and loading it into the same. This is a challenge in cloud integration because the difficulty of this process increases as the volume of business data increases. Writing code for this process is highly time-consuming unless you use automated cloud-based data integration.

Cloud Integration Use Cases 

As mentioned, Cloud Native Services has many use cases, including real-time data storage, cloud-to-cloud integration, application integration, and IoT connectivity. This leads to streamlined workflow and better collaboration in any business vertical. Even though the application of cloud integration is consistent among industries, the use case may vary based on industry function.

• Healthcare

Imagine having a streamlined flow of information in a hospital where hospitals can share real-time information about patients from anywhere. This can be possible by integrating electronic health records with cloud services. This reduces the administrative team's burden, and hospitals can efficiently provide better healthcare. Also, cloud integration enables compliance with regulations like HIPAA, as cloud providers offer compliance certificates to healthcare.

• Logistics

 Real-time data becomes extra important when it comes to the logistics sector. With cloud integration along with the Internet of Things, this industry can enable real-time management, adjusting prices as per demand, and automating routine tasks. With data synchronization, they can also scale their resources up and down when needed.

• Education

It will become easy for educational institutes to share data with students and allow students to access the same from anywhere at any time. Cloud integration can enable this. Plus, education institutes can cut costs by storing their data online instead of maintaining their hardware and IT servers. 

•  Retail

With people shifting their shopping preferences from offline to online, setting up a website has become crucial for retail businesses. And so are features like order management, shipping, inventory tracking, and payment processing. If there is no streamlined flow of information among these features, the store’s delivery time may be increased. Cloud integration enables real-time information exchange, making it easier for retail businesses to provide efficient services and stay competitive.

• Financial Services

Suppose a sales executive in a bank is pitching a client about a fixed deposit, and the client agrees. However, looking at the data, he also finds the client has recently bought a car (through a car loan) and needs car insurance. He immediately pitches the same, leading to cross-sell. Instances like this can be possible when all the departments have updated customer information. This can be made possible with cloud integration. As all the info from savings, mortgage, credit score, and cards are compiled and stored in one place.

Cloud Integration Platforms

Cloud integration platform enables you to facilitate the integration of cloud-based applications, data, and services into your business's infrastructure. This platform makes the process of integration super-efficient for you. You just need to be vigilant about choosing the right type of cloud integration provider.

Here is the list of providers you can consider for your integration process.

• IBM App Connect

App Connect simplifies the data integration by offering a user-friendly interface and pre-built app connector. It helps you connect data from various sources, whether on-premise, on the cloud, or in a hybrid environment. Plus, you can create workflows to customize how data is transferred from one application to another. 

•   Zapier

With Zapier, you can connect multiple web apps to enable a seamless data flow. You don’t need coding in this app to automate the online workflows. This makes it ideal for social media management, project management, email automation, and related tasks. It provides a free plan with basic automation features, including 5 single-step Zaps (the automated workflow you create), a 15-minute update time, and up to 100 monthly tasks. Additionally, Zapier offers a free 14-day trial of their Professional plan for new users.

•  Dell Boomi

With Boomi, you can merge all the data, applications, and processes and store them in one place. It is known for its ease of use capability and ability to streamline the integration process. It enables quick integration of people, data, and systems, enabling streamlined cloud operations.

• Microsoft Azure Logic Apps

Enabling both cloud-based and on premise integration, Azure is a modular platform that includes management, development, and implementation of enterprise integration. Azure Integration Services includes Azure Logic Apps, a cloud platform for creating and running automated workflows with little to no code.

• Workato

Workato is a cloud-based integration platform that allows users to connect various applications and automate workflows. It is designed to simplify integrating different systems, enabling businesses to automate workflows, connect apps, and streamline processes. Workato offers a user-friendly interface that allows users to create integrations and automate workflows with minimal coding knowledge.

Infuse Efficiency to Your Business with Cloud Integration

If your mission is to make your business operation automated and smooth, cloud integration is the solution you need. By giving you a 360 view of your business and breaking data silos, it increases team collaboration and agility of your business. 

If you need more information regarding Cloud Native Application Development or want help with the integration process, we can help.