researchHQ’s Key Takeaways:
- Application integration refers to the process of bringing resources from one application to another, often using middleware.
- Data integration refers to a combination of technical and business processes used to combine data from disparate sources into valuable information.
- Integration Platform as a Service (iPaaS) borrows key data integration concepts, allowing users to integrate multiple applications and manipulate, augment and validate data quality as data is being moved.
- Application Programming Interface (API) integration allows two applications to communicate with each other.
Researching integration tools can be confusing as multiple terms are used interchangeably to describe various integrations. What is application integration vs data integration? What is API integration? Let’s set some context and properly define these terms and how they are related.
What is Application Integration?
Application, or App Integration, is the process of bringing resources from one application to another and often uses middleware. In most modern organizations, this generally means connecting multiple cloud apps together. This can also be referred to as Cloud Data Integration. In organizations where legacy systems exist, application integration also includes connecting on-premise and cloud apps. The applications addressed are typically core applications like ERP, CRM or e-commerce platforms where many business processes rely on data from other cloud-based apps.
Who uses application integration solutions:
- Cloud application integration solutions are typically tailored towards a tech-savvy business user or IT staff but don’t usually require specialized skills.
- On-premise application integration solutions are typically tailored towards large enterprise use cases and used by IT staff with specialized skills.
What is Data Integration?
Data integration is a combination of technical and business processes used to combine data from disparate sources into meaningful and valuable information. Data integration goes beyond simply moving data from point A to point B by doing things to the data to make it more usable. Legacy data integration platforms are traditionally thought of as on-premise middleware solutions. They are often referred to as ETL solutions, meaning they extract, transform, and load data to another system. Modern cloud data integration solutions follow the same concepts as on-premise data integration tools but, obviously, are used for integrating cloud apps or cloud to on-premise applications. The difference between application integration vs data integration is therefore subtle.
Who uses data integration solutions:
- Cloud data integration solutions are typically tailored towards a tech-savvy business user or IT staff but don’t usually require specialized skills.
- On-premise data integration solutions are typically tailored towards large enterprise use cases and used by IT staff with specialized skills.
