Interfaces play a key role in the digitalization of business processes. However, developing and maintaining interfaces internally is often seen to be too challenging, risky, and costly for small and midsize businesses. The following article identifies the specific issues that businesses should expect and how data integration can still succeed despite the skills shortage.
In recent years, the German economy has experienced a wave of digitalization, which has driven the development of new business models and the use of digital technologies in businesses of all sizes from all sectors. While this accelerated digitalization brings many opportunities, it also presents challenges, especially for small and midsize businesses (SMBs). Businesses increasingly find themselves in a market environment dominated by ever fiercer competition and fast-paced business.
If you don’t automate your processes now, if you’re still doing repetitive tasks manually and on paper, you’ll quickly lose touch with your competitors, partners, and customers. Today, no business can afford slow, error-prone manual processes. Digitalizing your business processes should therefore be top priority for your company.
Reliable interfaces play a key role in the successful implementation of a modern IT strategy. As the connections between internal and external systems, they facilitate the electronic exchange of data and ensure, for example, that ERP and CRM systems can communicate freely with each other. They also allow retail partners, suppliers, and logistics providers to connect seamlessly. This greatly simplifies all processes by automating the complex flow of information during order processing.
For most SMBs, developing in-house interfaces that facilitate the standardized exchange of data, information, and commands between systems is extremely complex. Not only do they often lack the human and financial resources, they also lack the expertise to professionally implement the end-to-end interface development process. The hurdles can also be insurmountable when it comes to maintaining and monitoring the interfaces during operations. The worst part is that even small errors can lead to major system failures, operational downtime, and significant financial or contractual penalties.
Know-how and foresight are essential for defining clear objectives and requirements for an interface project. Developers should have the ability to critically examine the existing processes and fully understand the data that is already in place. This is the only way to identify potential and point your company in new directions. A common problem with internal analysis by in-house staff is operational blindness and entrenched structures.
A lack of expertise in the architecture and security aspects of interfaces is not uncommon in the enterprise. However, this knowledge is essential to ensure that solutions are secure, error-free, and robust. In addition, interfaces must be designed to be dynamic so that changes and testing can be carried out smoothly at any time.
Organizations often lack both the time and expertise to properly implement interfaces. However, the mapping of complex process chains in particular is very labor-intensive.
Once the interface is implemented, it needs to be put through its paces. This testing can sometimes be very complex, however. Intercepting all possible errors in a way that the interface can withstand data errors and changes requires a great deal of expertise and experience. In addition to IT, the specialist department involved also needs to be brought on board.
Successfully automating processes requires getting your people to buy into it. New solutions can only add real value if they are properly understood and used by all users. This is why changes should always be the subject of appropriate training and communication to the team.
The successful development and deployment of the interface is not the end of the project however. The interfaces have to be monitored to continuously check for errors in data transfer in order to maintain stable system communication and respond more quickly.
As you can see, interface development is extremely labor-intensive and requires a great deal of expertise. It requires specialized experts who can devote the time necessary from the design through to implementation and monitoring. However, recruiting and hiring these highly paid IT professionals is a major challenge for many SMBs in these times of skills shortages.
A simple, efficient and cost-effective way out of this impasse is to turn to external IT service providers who can provide your company with expert support in the form of manpower and valuable experience. Instead of spending months searching for highly paid, highly skilled specialists, you can get a customized service package in the shortest possible time, enabling you to quickly implement your digitalization projects.
nubibase places a team of certified specialists at your disposal who will guide you to your destination with the experience gained from numerous interface projects for companies in a wide range of industries. You have the flexibility to decide whether to run an interface on-premises or as a service-oriented operating model (data integration as a service) based on your needs. In addition to professional project implementation, our services also include operational support. Our portfolio is rounded out by error monitoring, interface monitoring and training, go-live support, and telephone support. Leverage our years of experience in interface development and operations.
At first glance, interface development seems to be a piece of cake: two or more systems are supposed to exchange data in a defined format over a defined communication channel. However, what sounds so simple can be very time-consuming and costly for your own organization, especially if you lack experience from previous interface projects. In addition, the entire project process, from recording actual and target status to monitoring, requires extensive expertise.
For SMBs, the costs of internal interface development are usually high—as are the costs for specialists. nubibase provides a remedy here and accompanies you reliably through all the project phases.
Let us provide you with free, no-obligation advice on data integration and interface programming. We look forward to hearing from you.
Want to find out more about our methods, tools and approaches and discuss your challenges with us? Schedule a free, no-obligation consultation today.
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