Businesses have been using an array of technological tools to enhance efficiency and profitability.
With the
introduction
of newer technical products, users are likely to face integration challenges.
A survey conducted by MuleSoft infers that only 29% of a company’s 1,000+ individual
applications are integrated. This statistic highlights that data in silos can result in opportunity costs and
unsustainable IT workloads that necessitate
troubleshooting and fixes. This is where business integration can be used to synchronize IT and
business objectives and align technology with them.
Businesses have been using an array of technological tools to enhance efficiency and profitability.
With the
introduction
of newer technical products, users are likely to face integration challenges.
A survey conducted by MuleSoft infers that only 29% of a company’s 1,000+ individual
applications are integrated. This statistic highlights that data in silos can result in opportunity costs and
unsustainable IT workloads that necessitate
troubleshooting and fixes. This is where business integration can be used to synchronize IT and
business objectives and align technology with them.
In this blog, we will discuss the importance of integration for businesses. Subsequently, we will highlight
the integration
challenges faced during the process and how MuleSoft helps overcome them.
Why is integration important for businesses?
Disconnected products and systems can cost your business in ways you cannot contemplate. Lack of data may
lead to disappointing
customers and loss of business. Unachievable orders and tremendous service requests can further slowdown
business
operations and hamper productivity.
The lack of integration affects areas such as technology innovation, applications, and systems. It has been
found that only
a few applications in an enterprise are interconnected. This poses a burden on the IT teams since
implementation,
governance, and maintenance require additional efforts leading to data turning into silos. Data silos result
in a disconnected infrastructure, shattered operations, disturbed budget allocation, and unsatisfied
customer
experiences.
Connectivity tools such as MuleSoft help in overcoming integration challenges across the enterprise. Single
solution integration
tools do not adequately overcome the challenges of data communication or sharing, forbidding businesses from
complex deployment integrations. More integration complexities result in silos while deploying these
solutions.
In this article, we will discuss how MuleSoft - an enterprise integration tool, has been helping businesses
to overcome integration
challenges.
MuleSoft Anypoint Platform
Mule 4 is the latest and most advanced MuleSoft version. It is a cost-effective, manageable, and scalable
enterprise integration
tool. It combines data and application integration across legacy systems, SaaS applications, and APIs.
MuleSoft Anypoint Platform
MuleSoft Anypoint Platform helps address integration challenges for businesses and offers end-to-end
integration access using
a single dashboard. It is the next-generation runtime engine release that simplifies integration tasks and
expedites
delivery speed. It empowers a broad set of users to build composite applications and make the most of their
digital
initiatives.
In the next section, we will discuss how this tool serves as a unified integration for enterprises.
MuleSoft integration platform - Key elements
-
Anypoint Studio
Anypoint Studio is the MuleSoft integration development environment used for designing and testing Mule
applications. It
offers an added support Mule runtime engine 4.4, secure storage, DataWeave 2.4, and a ‘referenced
by’
option for flows and sub-flows.
-
Anypoint Monitoring
A business transaction uses 35 different technology systems on average
. With Anypoint Monitoring, you get to know the key performance indicators across these integrations and
APIs transactions.
It offers real-time metrics and dashboards to track digital transactions and trends and store data to
perform
root cause analysis. It has a dependency mapping to identify issues in each application, API, and
application
integration.
-
Anypoint Security
Anypoint Security offers a modern security model, advanced perimeter, and tokenization services to
simplify security delivered
across every node. Automatic tokenization helps to encrypt sensitive data with API policies to increase
data
security and minimize operational overhead. It also helps meet government compliance standards,
including
General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), EU Data Residency, FedRAMP, and EU-US Privacy Shield.
-
Anypoint Runtime Fabric
Anypoint Runtime Fabric container helps manage multi-cloud Mule runtime deployments and execute multiple
runtimes on the
same Runtime Fabric. It simplifies deployment and Mule runtime management on Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web
Services (AWS), Virtual Machines (VMs), and physical servers that isolate apps, enabling enterprises to
scale
horizontally and deploy with zero downtime. It also helps manage multiple cloud deployments from
Anypoint
Platform’s cloud-based control plane.
-
Mule flow triggers
Without configuring logic for scheduled queries against target systems, Anypoint connectors contain
built-in logic to respond
to data changes, such as new database creation, change in Salesforce lead, or file creation.
-
Mule SDK
Mule SDK enhances Anypoint connector DevKit capabilities by complying with different Mule versions and
supporting transactions
and routers.
How does MuleSoft help in overcoming integration challenges?
MuleSoft is a cloud integration platform that unifies businesses to various third-party SaaS and SOA
applications, APIs services,
and systems on one platform. It is designed to offer ease of use, deployability, and hybrid readiness, with
which
you can write once and deploy anywhere.
With the MuleSoft Anypoint Platform’s robust set of solutions, businesses can connect through APIs,
making information
available quickly and eliminating frictions for obtaining unparalleled agility and speed. The MuleSoft
integration
platform changes how global enterprises connect apps, data, and devices, offering businesses an API-driven
connectivity
approach.
Additionally, the MuleSoft platform provides the below capabilities that help in overcoming challenges faced
during enterprise
integration:
Existence of APIs and reusable APIs
The MuleSoft platform allows you to build new APIs, design existing APIs interfaces, and simplify APIs
management in the
system. It enables data exposure to web apps, mobile, and connected devices securely. It also accredits
enterprises
with APIs, such as Experience, System, and Process APIs.
B2B processes
MuleSoft’s API connectivity allows enterprises to build reusable services across B2B processes and
combine real-time
methods for unified applications, data, and devices. In addition, it will enable a customizable approach to
development
and streamline the popular DevOps adoption methodologies, enabling continuous integration and
implementations.
ESB integrations
MuleSoft provides enterprises a combination of application integrations and data benefits with the Anytime
Platform and API-led
connectivity. You can integrate simple to advanced applications with built-in templates and connectors.
Leveraging the Internet of Things
MuleSoft allows applications, data, and devices to connect from your enterprise and mount it from the cloud
to the machines
at the network edge. The real-life data sources such as point-of-sale systems and others offer a
developer-oriented
transport protocol. It also offers the added benefit of easy mobile access to data from backend systems,
SaaS
applications, and legacy databases.
Flexible architecture
The robustness of the MuleSoft suite helps in developing reusable APIs that are also easily manageable. The
platform allows
unfaltering quality, security, and versatility for easy interfacing, monitoring, and customization.
Conclusion
MuleSoft has been assisting various industries in integrating strategies and giving them the aid to hold on
in the competitive
market across verticals such as finance, healthcare, government, insurance, media, retail, etc.
In today’s world, when enterprises have diverse application sets, it becomes challenging for IT
systems to:
- Connect to monolithic systems, with different business units working differently with data
- Choose the right integration tool
- Overcome integration challenges
An enterprise decides on a stack of products from a vendor and later identifies that the stack is either too
complex to maintain
or does not satisfy the customer’s needs. Choosing the right products is essential for businesses, as
is
the need to integrate other products or systems via a web service or libraries.
This is where MuleSoft becomes helpful in designing and implementing integrated solutions for current and
future products
across enterprises.
Get in touch with Nous to leverage the
MuleSoft integration
platform for your API management and integration initiatives.