Why Integrations Are Crucial For Enterprise Software And What The 1C:Enterprise Platform Has To Offer
There are several crucial factors to consider when choosing new software for commercial use, including the tool’s reliability, cost and the opportunity of embedding it into current business processes.
To solve the latter issue, the solution should be able to interact with the company’s existing software. That means that a piece of software should not only provide the functionality for working with the company’s website or uploading information (Excel price lists, etc.) but also work with any external accounting systems that the company has already implemented.
Old tool vs. new tool
Quite often new software products are not implemented from scratch. Instead, the company is usually trying to replace one tool with another. Sometimes the previous solution may have been in place for years, and so it is evident that the new tool should be able to work with old data so that users can still find everything in one place.
However, in real life, it is possible that the new system contains only a fraction of all data. The latest information is going to the new tool, but most of the old data is still stored in the previous system. The pros of this approach are clear: it is easy to implement and could be done without recruiting any external IT professionals. There are cons as well: users will have to study both the old and new systems, which incurs additional spending on training and salaries, while old data modifications have to be performed in both systems, which may lead to errors.
Having all the data in the new system seems to be the perfect option, but how can this be implemented?
Finding a solution
To provide the best integration and implementation options, the software should be able to work with multiple exchange formats. The system must support XML but also work with HTTP interfaces, external data sources and more. These technologies make synching between different systems such as websites and accounting tools possible.
As a result, the company can receive requests via the website, upload this data to the new software, process orders, generate documentation and automatically account payments or client liabilities. As everything is automated, there is a decreased risk of errors that might occur during manual data transfer, orders are processed faster, and the cost of one processed order is lowered.
Also, to implement effective workflow, information from the old system should be transferred to the new one. The need to switch between systems to access different information leads to errors, slows down processes and incurs additional costs.
How this works on the 1C:Enterprise platform
Firstly, many integration issues are solved by supporting web services. A large amount of enterprise software solutions can work using the web, and so it is easy to implement real-time data updates, download information and generate documentation, all in one new system.
Secondly, the platform supports different formats such as JSON, XML, XDTO and others which make it possible to not only integrate the software with external systems like Google calendar, SalesForce and SharePoint via HTTP interfaces, but also generate shared files used in data exchanges. This would be useful for working with ecommerce websites, for example.
Third, the system can work with external data sources using ODBC in Windows or Linux. In the case of working with DBMS, communication is organized using embedded SQL queries which means the programmer doesn’t have to study new query language. This functionality also allows working with multidimensional data sources like Microsoft Analysis.
Finally, many companies face the need for integrating the software with hardware like barcode scanners, registers, receipt printers, etc. In this case, the built-in integration with external components can be used. To use it, you need to write a simple code for processing communication with a hardware driver. Some hardware may connect automatically using standard drivers built into the configuration.
What this means for the business
The business benefits from using such a platform in multiple ways. First of all, the convergence with third-party tools allows for creating better cross-platform services for users. For example, showing current currency exchange rates, displaying real stock balances on the website, or online ordering.
A rich-information exchange mechanism is crucial for reliable and comprehensive data migration. Nothing will end up in the old system; any byte of information you have will be conveniently transferred and correctly displayed in the new platform.
As a result, the company can implement a more functional system while keeping all the data in one place, expanding functionality with third-party apps, and reducing costs due to simplified data transfer.
Final thoughts
Integrations are crucial in the implementation of new enterprise-level software. We’ve reviewed some capabilities the 1C:Enterprise platform offers in order to set up a data exchange and communication with third-party solutions.
In further articles, we will discuss more integration features and showcase real-life examples of using them.
