Although the first generation of iPaaS introduced enterprises to a new way of streamlining workflows, the market today is ready for a revamped platform that can harness the power of AI and an intuitive interface to drive broader change across the enterprise.
Over the last 20 years, the rise of Software as a Service (SaaS) has revolutionized the way enterprises operate. As departments across organizations have increasingly adopted various applications to meet their unique needs, software spend is no longer concentrated within central IT. This decentralization has led to an explosion of applications, or app sprawl, creating significant challenges for integration.
Integration is more than just ensuring data flows between systems; it’s about making sure different applications work together seamlessly to support business processes and innovation. There are three primary problems that integration solves:
Data Consistency: In any organization, different systems often require access to the same data. Without proper integration, discrepancies can arise, leading to errors and inefficiencies. Ensuring data consistency means that all applications are working with the most up-to-date information, reducing errors and improving decision-making.
Business Process Automation: Business processes often span multiple applications. For instance, a single customer order might touch the CRM, the inventory management system, and the shipping platform. Integration allows these independent apps to collaborate, automating complex, multi-step processes to improve efficiency and speed.
Building New Services: Modern businesses increasingly rely on APIs to create new services by combining actions across multiple apps and data sources. Integration platforms enable the creation of these composite services, offering new capabilities without the need to build everything from scratch. For example, a unified customer service dashboard might need to take advantage of a service that pulls information from various support and feedback tools.
However, achieving these integrations is not without its challenges. Traditional methods often involve custom-built solutions that are time-consuming, costly, and heavily reliant on scarce technical expertise. Amid a growing IT skills shortage, many organizations struggle to find and retain the talent necessary to build and maintain these complex integrations.
This is where Integration Platform as a Service (iPaaS) steps in. iPaaS offers a modern, cloud-based solution to standardize and simplify the integration process. It supports a wide range of integration needs, from data synchronization to process automation and API management. By providing a user-friendly interface and pre-built connectors, iPaaS empowers both IT and business users to create and manage integrations without deep technical expertise.
In the next section, we’ll explore what an iPaaS is, its benefits to IT leaders, and how it has evolved to meet the diverse needs of modern enterprises.
See also: Why iPaaS Needs a Reboot
What is iPaaS?
iPaaS is a cloud-based automation platform that standardizes how applications are integrated into an organization.
Historically, many IT leaders have tackled integration by relying on technically skilled developers to build custom integrations that leverage code and APIs. While these custom integrations have proved effective in many ways, their development is time-consuming and labor-intensive, two major drains on productivity at a time when organizations are expected to move quickly. Other organizations have pursued vendor-built or native integrations that come with a vendor’s overall package of tools. These integrations can connect seamlessly to popular platforms like Salesforce; however, they are limited in customization and flexibility and are typically designed to support only basic use cases.
Many organizations have struggled to adopt an integration option that balances the need for customization with business user-friendly technology. iPaaS considers the needs of growing enterprises and employs a flexible automation approach that standardizes monitoring, maintenance, and updates of processes across applications as they evolve. This avoids the need to bring in expensive developers, a premium in this economy, to build new functionalities as business needs shift. Additionally, iPaaS is creating a significant ripple effect across the industry. In fact, according to Gartner, the iPaaS market is the fastest-growing segment of enterprise software since 2022, having exceeded $8 billion in revenue in 2023 alone.
Guide to Selecting the Right iPaaS
The iPaaS sector is growing quickly. The number of options available can be overwhelming, and it can be a struggle to identify the best solution for your company’s needs. We’ll discuss the evolution of iPaaS over time and provide IT leaders with a comparison of what each solution provides.
Legacy iPaaS
The last two decades have seen a major evolution of iPaaS, starting with legacy iPaaS platforms developed during early attempts at cloud integration. These included notable features such as error handling and monitoring. Such platforms are effective at addressing the needs of robust IT departments with a dedicated team of developers, but due to their need for near-constant monitoring and maintenance, these bulky legacy platforms can put significant strain on resources today. With organizations under pressure to deliver immediate results in the most cost-effective way possible, hiring another team dedicated solely to the maintenance of such platforms is not an option.
Second Generation iPaaS
While legacy iPaaS platforms launched the transformation of the integration sector, a second-generation of platforms has sought to address some of the expensive challenges posed by their predecessors. With a focus on simplicity, second-generation players have worked to reel in less technically skilled users with decentralized creation and integration management. While these platforms have indeed been able to provide more simplified automation capabilities for business users, they struggle to automate some of the more complex processes commonly used by all enterprises, such as back-office and finance. Simple task automation can help achieve quick wins and small goals, but true transformation starts with a holistic view of all processes.
Modern-Day Advanced iPaaS
One option remains that combines the power of legacy platforms with the simplicity of the second-generation of iPaaS: the advanced iPaaS.
The pandemic, along with economic pressures and labor shortages, accelerated the transition to what can be called the age of digital transformation. The role of the IT department has shifted from purely technical decision making to collaboration with every department and a larger role in business strategy. Advanced iPaaS automates the development and maintenance of integrations, freeing up valuable time for IT departments to focus on larger business objectives.
Unlike second-generation platforms that can only automate simple, isolated tasks, advanced platforms leverage custom, pre-built integrations that can connect a wide range of business processes, from customer service to sales, while also allowing for more complex integrations for those more technically inclined. Additionally, these platforms keep enterprises ahead of major trends with AI-based error resolution to automatically resolve issues as they arise, saving valuable time that would otherwise be used to troubleshoot.
The future of integration lies with platforms that can balance accessibility with robust functionalities. Although the first generation of iPaaS introduced enterprises to a new way of streamlining workflows, the market today is ready for a revamped platform that can harness the power of AI and an intuitive interface to drive broader change across the enterprise. For enterprises that want to do more than just survive, advanced iPaaS will empower them to grow into the industry leaders they have the capability to be.
