Technology integration: one of the most critical topics facing operations teams and management now and in the near-future

So, what is technology integration? Simply put, technology integration (TI) is a way to connect different digital tools or systems together in order for them to share essential information. This works through a push-and-pull process, almost as if they're "talking" to each other. The process of technology integration creates a one-system experience for the user as an alternative to using multiple systems that are disjointed or siloed, and dramatically improves overall user experience as a result. Integration is made possible through an API (Application Programming Interface).

Technology integration can create a number of advantages, including:

• Working with existing systems to provide enhancements or features that the existing technology is not equipped for;
• Providing all-in services or a "one-system" client experience;
• Improved communication and collaboration, particularly on an inter-departmental level;
• Improved data accessibility;
• Deeper insights, as data is being pulled from multiple systems to provide a better overview and a viewpoint on how different components work together.

There are *a lot* of misconceptions and misunderstandings about data integration as well. When people enter the conversation, they often approach it as a high-level topic and want to integrate everything, as opposed to working through what they’re actually trying to achieve. In my opinion, here’s a list of considerations that should not be ignored:

• Really consider the end result. Why do you want to integrate? What is the valuable information or insights that you’re trying to gather? Not every single data point needs to be shared….that’s a lot of data, and integration can be costly; so it’s critical that you are clear on the information you want to see.
• Understanding the information you want to see is important because there are advantages to keeping data separate and only sharing the necessary information. Speed and storage are less of a concern these days due to enhancements in technology, but data leaks are unfortunately a concern. If a data leak occurs with one system, only sharing the necessary information helps ensure that the source data is protected in your other systems.
• Data input – for data integrity and for ease of usage, it’s important that the users/frontline workers only need to input the information once. Data integration is about automatically pulling or pushing the necessary information, it should not result in double entry.
• I started this post with a question about one-size-fits-all. Just like this approach doesn’t work, be wary of partners that claim to do it all. Think of the popular saying “jack of all trades, master of none”. It’s important to work with experts who really understand the nuances of your operations. Data integration does not mean one system / one partner – there’s a big difference between the two.

To recap, there’s a lot of benefits to data integration, and it is a topic that will grow in importance; but on the flip side, there are a lot of considerations that need to be thoroughly thought through. I hope the takeaway of this post is to understand your end result and the information you want to see.