Move over integration, hello interoperability.
While integration is doubtless a familiar term to you, Interoperability may not be. Yet, of the two, it’s the more important.
Integration vs Interoperability
Integration is about the connection between two things, for example, a system to an application. Once you have that connection in place, solutions can exchange information.
But that doesn't mean they're actually going to understand each other's data and be able to do their job without some help.
By comparison, achieving interoperability means that not only are your solutions connected so they can freely exchange information - but they can work together without any effort from your end.
In effect, they not only talk to one another but speak the same language without needing an interpreter.
Why should your goal be more interoperability and less integration?
Integration is the effort required to get things to talk to each other – one at a time. But when you have interoperability, you can happily chop and change those connections, knowing all your systems and applications speak the same language.
This makes building new integrations cheaper and faster as you can point systems and applications at one another, confident that they’ll work together.
Lost in translation
What does integration look like without interoperability? Imagine connecting your invoicing system to your warehouse and logistics system when each has a different understanding of what a customer’s address is. For one system, it’s where the invoice goes; for the other, it’s where the product gets delivered. Yes, the systems are connected, but the customer address means different things to the end users – and the correct one has to be looked up or manually selected from a drop-down list (which defeats the purpose of integration).
With interoperability, each system knows which address is relevant to its purpose – no intervention is required.
Take your time – it’s evolution, not revolution
So, as CIO, how do you achieve interoperability, not just integration? It’s all in the strategy.
By prioritising an enduring interoperability strategy over the technology needed, you’ll minimise the need for manual integrations, eliminate API sprawl and unnecessary licenses, avoid the knock-on effect of making changes within spaghetti integrations, and spend less – while achieving more.
Best of all, you don’t need to take a new broom to all your existing integrations. Adopting an interoperability strategy means hello to a flexible evolutionary process – with each subsequent integration being easier. And old integrations can be phased out gradually as the tide of interoperability turns in your favour.
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