What Are the Benefits of Application Integration?

What is Application Integration?

Application Integration comprises different software functions meant for various purposes to work together in a synchronized way.

A simple example is Google Analytics. Instead of building your own analytics platform, you integrate an existing one into your product or website.

The programs could be cloud-based, as in Salesforce CRM, in a hybrid environment, like cloud apps housed on a company's private servers or on-premises behind a firewall, like SAP.

Application integration offers modern and unified architecture that further streamlines the usability of apps. In the process, it also helps get rid of clumsy and fragmented experiences that could otherwise occur without integration.

As companies strive to connect their on-premises technologies with cloud-based apps or improve user experience by integrating existing products to their own, application integration is becoming increasingly relevant.

Successful integration establishes integrated data flow and processes, providing companies with a broader range of tools to manage their applications and correlated data.

Another nice perk of integration is that existing applications that you “plug-in” to your product are updated and maintained independently—you don’t need to use resources keeping them up-to-date and bug free.

At the end of the day, not having to code every feature from scratch saves you time and money.

There’s a good chance that someone has already done a perfectly fine job creating an API for one of your features.

After all, it’s unlikely that creating a calendar booking feature is your passion project—but rather a necessary feature. Suddenly it makes less sense for you to develop all these “side” features when a third-party API integration can get the job done, and some, effortlessly.

“By integrating iDesigner with external assets, Extradom was able to engage in close cooperation with e-commerce platforms which opened doors to many future cross-industry mergers.” —Read more in the Extradom case study.

Application integrations save money

you can save money, become more efficient, and build better digital products when third-party applications are combined to operate together.

It’s crucial when delivering an elevated experience to your users. Existing applications need no coding since they are already stable, proven, and sometimes popular (even loved) with users.

There’s also the question: are you realistically going to build a better payment platform than Stripe, or a better map than Google Maps, for your customers' experience? If so, at what cost?

Application integration examples

Today, most of the leading tech companies and other global brands use application integration to thrive. For example, marketing, analytics, CRM, live chat, video, and surveys, all flourish on so many application integrations. Some examples of application integrations are:

1. Edamam

Edamam's developer API page

Along with their product, Nutrition Wizard, Edamam provides APIs for a variety of nutritional and diet services. Nutrition analysis, recipe search, and meal recommendation engine—just to name a few. At Monterail we were able to utilize these APIs to build functionality in our client’s product. Read more about external API integration in the foostainable case study.

1. Freshmarketer

Image Source

World-famous for A/B testing, Freshworks' marketing automation software is excellent for marketing teams aiming to provide tailored consumer experiences and improve the marketing-sales relationship.

1. Alexa

Image Source

Alexa is a pioneer company in web traffic analysis. The data panel used by Alexa to generate Alexa Ranks and estimate non-Certified metrics is a sample of worldwide internet traffic. The panel is made of millions of internet users utilizing one of over 25,000 distinct browser extensions.

1. Aircall

Image Source

Aircall is a cloud-based call centre and phone solution. A voice interface that works in tandem with popular productivity and customer service software. Aircall was created to make phone systems more manageable - more accessible, transparent, and collaborative.

1. Livechat

Image Source

LiveChat is an online customer care program that includes features such as online chat, help desk software, and web analytics.

Application integrations create an ecosystem

Application integration facilitates the sharing of processes and business data among a range of products. It provides easy interaction with a wide range of on-premise and cloud apps to kick off the data transformation necessary for business operations.

Since the application integration provider is responsible for the application, the brand does not need to rewrite it to react to new modifications. Streamlining of the workflow involving various tasks is another major plus of application integration. And this process doesn't exhaust the software either.

Integration between existing apps has created an ecosystem where companies and users benefit—getting to experience quality service as a result. For example, UBER has integration with Google Maps. While this enhances the user’s experience, the companies end up sharing ideas, success, and revenue.

The process of integration ends up collating services and goods with other crucial integrations in the process like geolocation, payment platforms, and more.

Further read: Application Integration — Why Is It Rising in Popularity and How to Approach It