A recent PwC survey found that, while 72% of U.S. executives reported extensive cloud adoption, more than half felt their modernization initiatives underperformed in critical areas such as cost management and resilience. Integrating multiple cloud services presents a distinct challenge during migration, especially with isolated systems.
With an average ROI of 328% and 75% faster data processing, cloud integration is demonstrably worth the time, effort, and investment. Keep reading to discover how, with the right strategies, you can successfully integrate cloud services.
What Is Cloud-to-Cloud Integration?
Cloud-to-cloud integration connects and synchronizes data, applications, and workflows across cloud systems that support your business.
Key components include:
- Data Synchronization: Keeps information consistent across connected cloud systems.
- API Management: Provides secure, centralized control to access your cloud services.
- Centralized Security: Ensures unified encryption and access safeguards across platforms, and test environments.
However, there can sometimes be challenges, such as linking CRM systems to payment gateways, coordinating data between sales and customer service, and syncing productivity apps with the backend. Also, setting up workflows between cloud storage and development tools for different teams may require extra effort.
Why Is Cloud-to-Cloud Application Integration Important to Your Business?
Cloud-to-cloud integration strengthens business operations by linking systems for smoother data flow and quicker response times. It helps adapt tools as your needs change, and also reduces time spent managing multiple platforms. Let’s take a closer look at the benefits you can reap:
- Enhanced Data Consistency: Effective integration guarantees that consistent, up-to-date information is available to the employees who need it, on any cloud services they use, and that any updates made in one application automatically sync across others, ensuring all users access the same, current records.
- Streamlined Workflows: Integrating your cloud automates data exchanges and syncs applications, removing the need for any manual entry. This connectivity allows updates made in one system to instantly become available in others, reducing redundant tasks and cutting down on delays, reducing the chance of error.
- Improved Decision-Making: By centralizing information across different systems, your leadership can have a clear view of key metrics. Access to the latest information enables swift and accurate insights across departments.
- Increased Scalability: Integration allows adjusting applications without disrupting existing systems. This architecture makes it easier to handle higher workloads and adapt to new demands as connected applications can be scaled up or down. It also ensures data consistency and stability, allowing you to expand without adding complexity.
- Boosted Productivity: Cloud-to-cloud integration reduces manual tasks, allowing records to flow smoothly between environments without repeated entries or checks, saving time and labor that can be reallocated to more challenging tasks.
- Improved Customer Experience: A unified view of customer data across platforms ensures that customer information, such as service requests or product history, is up to date and accessible when and where it’s required.
- Reduced IT Complexity: Simplifying the administration of different cloud systems allows teams to manage and monitor processes from a single location, minimizing the technical work required to maintain multiple platforms and reducing the administrative burden on internal teams.
- Eliminate Data Silos: With all relevant business information easily accessible in one place rather than being isolated in separate data stores within individual cloud applications, your teams have all the information they need when they need it.
Top 6 Tips for Streamlining Cloud-to-Cloud Integration
While effective integration helps you optimize costs, boost productivity, and improve customer experiences across your cloud ecosystem, it can be a challenge to achieve these without taking a strategic approach. Let’s take a look at some tips that will let you simplify the managing your applications:
1. Implement a Comprehensive Integration Platform
Choosing the right integration platform lays a foundation for successful rollout. Find a solution that supports a wide variety of services and protocols to ensure future compatibility as your needs evolve. Key attributes to look for include:
- Scalability to sustain growth without limitations
- A low-code design with pre-built connectors to simplify the process
- Robust error handling and performance monitoring
2. Prioritize Data Mapping and Transformation
To keep data consistent, start by aligning models across your systems. Then, set rules to standardize inputs so it flows smoothly, creating clearer workflows to make operations easier for your team.
3. Employ API Management Best Practices
Centralized Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) improve control and security. To update integrations while retaining functionality, prioritize API management and versioning.
4. Embrace Real-Time Integration Capabilities
Implement analytics and tracking techniques such as event-driven architectures to provide real-time updates across services.
5. Establish Robust Security Measures
Protect sensitive information in integrations with end-to-end encryption. Enhance access controls by implementing multi-factor authentication, ensuring secure access to tools and platforms across your systems.
6. Automate Integration Processes
Create test suites to validate integration workflows and improve quality assurance. Implement continuous improvement in the delivery pipelines to make upgrades simple. Leverage AI and machine learning to allow predictive maintenance and improve interconnectivity, driving operational excellence.
Trust Boomi to Deliver the Cloud-to-Cloud Integration Solution You Need
To get the most out of cloud-to-cloud integration, you must plan ahead. Our tips can help you monitor your cloud resources more accurately, and help highlight areas for improvement by checking in on your processes regularly. Boomi simplifies these by providing a centralized platform that connects your applications and data, keeping operations smooth across all systems.
The Boomi Enterprise Platform is an intelligent, flexible, and scalable solution that seamlessly delivers cloud interconnectivity. Designed to link applications simply and securely, it provides centralized coordination to maximize digital resources. Boomi offers the following benefits and features:
- Extensive Pre-Built Connector Library: Boomi’s vast library simplifies integrations between systems of all sizes. Most configurations require minimal customization, reducing time spent and ensuring cohesion among critical tools.
- Intelligent Mapping Suggestions: The platform’s AI uses its extensive experience to propose smart ways of relating data across applications, streamlining the process and freeing up time for strategic decisions.
- Hybrid Deployment Options: With hybrid deployment, Boomi allows you to allocate resources where they are most effective for your needs, accommodating evolving requirements while sustaining synchronized oversight fundamental to productivity.
- Real-Time Integration Capabilities: Boomi’s event-driven architecture allows data to update instantly across all connected applications, keeping systems in sync without delays. This helps ensure workflows are responsive, and that everyone is updated with the latest information, especially useful for time-sensitive processes.
- Built-In Security Features: Boomi secures data transfers with encryption and strict access controls, preventing unauthorized access. It also includes features to meet compliance standards like GDPR and HIPAA, keeping sensitive information protected as it moves across different applications.
- Automated Testing and Updates: Boomi’s platform automatically tests integrations to catch any issues early, helping prevent disruptions before they reach users. It also runs regular updates in the background, keeping everything current without interrupting daily workflows.
- Scalable Architecture: Boomi’s multi-tenant architecture is built to scale easily with your business, so you can add new applications or handle higher data volumes without extensive reconfiguration. This is ideal for growing companies or those expanding services, as it can support more users and applications with minimal setup effort.
- Unified Platform Experience: Boomi brings together tools like API management, EDI, and workflow automation within one interface, making it easy to oversee and manage all integrations from a single dashboard. This unified experience reduces the need to switch between tools, providing a simpler and more intuitive ecosystem for teams.
- Performance Monitoring and Optimization: Boomi’s platform includes real-time monitoring and alerting features, as well as performance analysis tools. These let you keep an eye on integration health, spot issues early, and maintain smooth operations by tracking key metrics and system activity in one place.
Learn more about how you can reduce your cloud costs through efficient integration.