How should you get your applications to communicate with each other?

You have been tasked with ensuring two or more applications communicate with each other, so what do you do? Is there more than one way to do this?

Yes! There are various ways one could establish data connectivity between applications. Here are a 5 factors that you need to consider before proceeding with your integration project.

·      How many applications do I have?

If you have just a couple applications and both have API capabilities then, direct API integration would be the de-facto choice. As your applications increase, this is bound to become a tangled mess. Here is where you need to have a properly planned strategy with a middleware or API management solution which acts a central hub, thus reducing maintenance overhead.

·      Where are my applications?

If most of my applications are web-based, then a lightweight workflow automation software could suffice. If legacy systems need to be connected, a more robust and capable solution with connectors would be required to enable communication.

·      Does my data need to be worked upon in transit?

If the data exchanged between applications needs any kind of translation, formatting, or manipulation, middleware is a perfect fit. It can handle these tasks centrally, reducing the need for custom code within each application.

·      Do I need auto retries in case of failed transactions?

Middleware solutions have robust error handling capability with appropriate security measures to ensure consistent application across integrations. With a direct approach you would need to build these features in various applications often resulting in more time and effort consumed than required.

·      Overtime, will I need to scale to integrate multiple applications or handle multiple business use cases?

If you anticipate your system growing in the future, middleware is a wise choice. It allows you to easily add new applications without having to modify existing integrations.

In short, if you have a complex integration scenario with multiple applications, data transformation needs, and a desire for a safe, scalable and maintainable system, then using a middleware is the way to go. We have experience with multiple integration projects and would love to share our learnings. Feel free to reach out to us.