Enterprise integration is the discipline of connecting an organisation’s disparate applications, data stores and processes so they operate as a coherent whole, exchanging information and coordinating workflows across system and organisational boundaries. It employs patterns such as messaging, APIs, service buses and event-driven architectures to overcome heterogeneity in technology, format and ownership. It underpins enterprise architecture, automation and end-to-end business processes.
Overview
- Enterprise integration addresses the reality that large organisations run many systems built at different times on different technologies. By standardising how systems communicate - through messaging, APIs, service buses and events - it enables unified processes, consistent data and automation across the enterprise, while managing reliability, transformation and governance of the connections.
Mechanisms
- Messaging, message queues and enterprise service buses.
- API-led connectivity and gateways.
- Event-driven and service-oriented architectures.
- Data transformation, mapping and canonical models.
- Reliability, orchestration and integration governance.
Applications
- Connecting ERP, CRM and legacy systems.
- B2B and partner system integration.
- Process automation across departments.
- Hybrid cloud and on-premises integration.