Juanito S.

Bugay BSIT – 102

Pains on Point to Point Integration

1. Point to point is rigid solution only providing integration between systems A to B

Point-to-point integration is only the sub process of a bigger business process or system
Security risks can arise with patch updates, and become incompatible with connections
Keeping integration connectors up to date eats in to valuable development and financial resources

We all know that point to point integration is where all integration starts but the thing is that point to
point integration is built only for specific purposes.

2. Before we explore what the subject of this topic means, let us discuss a simple use case of an
enterprise. In order to make this use case as simple as possible let’s assume this enterprise is a car
manufacturer, and different raw materials needed to manufacture the cars are bought from different
suppliers.

This hypothetical manufacturer uses two different software systems from two different vendors
for supply chain management and inventory management. If these two systems are separated from
one another and if they cannot communicate with each other, this enterprise will be facing a lot of
problems. The supply chain management system should know when the inventory spaces run out, and
the inventory management system should be able to inform the SCM system when new orders are
placed and so forth. Scenarios like these will force the enterprise to connect these two systems in some
way so that they can communicate with each other and automate the business processes of the
enterprise.

Engineers could make this happen by modifying the existing systems in a way that the communication
takes place. The difficulty to interconnect these two different systems might depend on various factors.
But let us assume that it is possible. Ok now they are now done, but is it’s not that all, why? Because
What about the other aspects of this enterprise? Today’s enterprises cannot function smoothly if all
these different systems are not interconnected. Therefore, sooner or later, the enterprise’s other
software sub systems will have to be connected in order to function as a single system. And what if
every patch or updates for this system is needed and how is it compatible in each systems.

3. Hidden Cost of Point to Point. It can be difficult to see Point to point issues when only working with
2 or 3 architectural components. But the number of Point to point connections needed to integrate
a given number of components increases exponentially as additional systems are added. This is an
especially serious problem for companies that rely on connectivity with an increasing number of
systems or partners as a part of their business model.

4. If you are planning to grow or looking to change your primary cloud-based or on-premises business
systems, then flexible, customizable and agile data integration solutions are likely needed. So what
 we need is an integration tool or let say a middleware with API (Application Programming
Interface)

Here’s our story.

In its early days, Klipfolio had only a few data collection systems. We had an accounting system that
kept track of our finances; we had a web analytics system that gave us information on website
traffic; and as we put a sales force in place, we put in a customer resource management system, or
CRM.
And for a while, this was just fine.
When we wanted information on trends and correlations, we were able to do so relatively easily by
plucking data from our three separate systems and sewing it together into something that made
sense.
And we trusted the data because we knew it was clean - and simple.

But then, with the number of customers moving into the thousands, we introduced a ticketing
system, a marketing automation system and a payment processing system at the same time. And
with six systems instead of three clarity quickly vanished. We were overwhelmed. It wasn’t so easy
any more to sew things together, and we found we could no longer trust the numbers we were
getting.
It was just one system bolted onto another, and we didn’t integrate them in the right way.
Of course, when you choose the systems, you are told that everything integrates out of the box -
seamlessly. Don’t believe it for a second.
That wasn’t our experience.
We ended up with systems that were sort of integrated, but far from how our lifecycles and funnels
and payment models were designed. In many ways, we now had data silos, and we found ourselves
trying to make decisions with data we could not trust.

5. If your infrastructure uses 3 systems or less, and you're not expecting any growth in the future,
point-to-point integration is an adequate solution. However, if you're expecting any kind of
expansion in the future, or are already experiencing integration problems, you should make
improving your integration architecture one of your top priorities.