In any application integration, data migration and in general, any data management initiative, data mapping is one of the most critical steps. One could even argue that the integrations project success depends largely on correct mapping of source to target data. So, let’s review what the data mapping best practices are: the types, the common approaches as well as the useful data mapping tools.

This discussion has been going for years: who wins the battle of EDI vs API? On the one hand, EDI is considered to be a legacy technology that is difficult to implement and maintain. Yet at the same time many enterprise-grade software systems have it as a key element of information communication. In fact EDI continues to play an integral role specifically in the supply chain oriented industries such as logistics, automotive and, of course, retail.

The iPaaS market is clearly growing now at a faster pace than ever anticipated. This is not only due to the pandemic forcing companies to accelerate the digital transformation, but also in general due to the rise of SaaS. The replacement of older, server-bound software solutions with more modular, user-friendly and flexible SaaS solutions means customers need to connect these disparate cloud systems somehow if they want their business to become truly data driven.

There is hardly an IT application nowadays that doesn’t provide an API, which specifies how this application should interact with the rest of the IT ecosystem. So, it’s no wonder that IT staff even at large enterprises increasingly make use of APIs when they need to integrate multiple systems with each other, commonly new SaaS applications with the existing IT estate. At the same time, there are APIs and then there are APIs.

Enterprise Integration Platform as a service (EiPaaS) is commonly used to describe a suite of cloud-based tools and services that are designed to support enterprise-grade integration strategy and initiatives. The hallmarks of EiPaaS products are ease-of-use, standardization and pre-built modules such as connection endpoints (usually API-based, to connect to a business application like CRM or ERP), automation flow builder and error handler.

Webhooks vs API, oh well. When there is a talk about what method to use in order to seamlessly sync datasets between applications, platforms and databases (in other words, to perform application integration), APIs are often named as today’s best-practices method for handling this.

While there are many challenges young companies might struggle with, they certainly escaped one that is a blessing and a curse at the same time – the legacy IT systems. Data is indeed one of the companies’ most valued assets, as knowledge (read, ‘data’) empowers better, more informed business decisions. Moreover, chances are your organization already has most of the knowledge it needs. The only caveat, though, is that it might be inaccessible and therefore, pretty useless.

There are few parts of business that the Covid-19 pandemic hasn’t impacted, in some cases creating pervasive and long-lasting change. While no one knows exactly how our lives will emerge from this upheaval, for businesses it’s clear that long term survival depends on agility. Entire workforces have been mobilised in a matter of weeks. Employees – even the Luddites among us – have had to adopt new ways of working and many are in no rush to return to the traditional office!

IDC forecast that 2019 would be the year when enterprise IT spending by departmental managers overtook spending by the IT department itself. Cloud-based on-demand services have become the norm by lowering barriers to technology purchases and enabling cost centre managers to quickly and easily deploy the software of their choice. Flexible subscription contracts gave access to an almost unlimited bank of resource to accommodate seasonal and periodic spikes in demand.

With increasingly draconian measures worldwide aimed at keeping people at home to quell the spread of COVID-19, companies of all shapes and sizes and across the majority of industries are finding themselves in the same situation – how to equip and empower their workforce for mobile working. More than 5 million companies around the world will experience an impact at a cost to the global economy exceeding US$1 trillion.