How do custom connectors help product integration?

A functioning system will have multiple software working collaboratively to solve a use case. Custom connectors connect different software applications when there is no built-in integration. These connectors connect two or more applications and ease data transfer. Companies can develop these connectors in-house or outsource the task to a team like CI Global. CI has been working with more than 15+ ERPs on their product- Rubicube- working with thousands of metadata to get to the customized level that makes a difference.

Product integration integrates a company’s product with another system or platform. This can range from adding a simple plugin to an existing platform to integrating the company’s product directly into another software system. Seamless integration assists companies in creating comprehensive and efficient software systems by utilizing various applications and platforms.

Product integration aids in improving internal workflows and streamlining processes by automating tasks that would otherwise require manual intervention. While they can co-exist without one another, why are they important to each other? Why does having a custom connector help you streamline your business capabilities better? Read this case study to learn more.

What are the challenges in software product integration?

Understanding the worlds of data and KPIs is the first challenge in integrating different products. When integrating different systems, understanding the implementation of each product is a challenge to overcome. This arises because each product or system is implemented using different technologies, architectures, and design patterns, making it difficult to understand how they work and how they can be integrated with other systems.

• When integrating a legacy system with a modern cloud-based system, the legacy system may have been implemented using an outdated technology stack and architecture, while the modern system may be using the latest technologies and cloud-based architecture.
• Dealing with different data formats is another challenge in understanding the implementation of a product. Each system may use a unique data format and communication protocol, which can be incompatible with other systems. This can require extensive data transformation and translation to ensure data is correctly passed between systems.
• Missing out on data factors that can significantly impact the data set and the insights you derive from them. When critical data factors are missing, the resulting integration may not be comprehensive or incomplete, resulting in errors.
• The missing data causes the performance of the integrated software product to drop and risks data breaches, leading to slower performance, reduced efficiency, or unauthorized access to sensitive information.
• Data redundancy when integrating different software products can create inconsistencies or conflicts in the data. This can lead to incorrect or incomplete information being presented to users, severely impacting decision-making and productivity.
• Security concerns impact data integrity in software product integration. Data not properly secured during the integration process can be vulnerable to unauthorized access, modification, or deletion.

It is essential to clearly understand the data requirements for the integration process and identify any potential gaps or missing data factors. This involves thoroughly analyzing the data structures and formats used by the software products involved in the integration process and developing strategies to fill in any missing data factors. This may involve using data mapping and conversion tools or developing custom integrations to bridge data gaps or inconsistencies.

How do custom connectors help in solving your problem?

Custom connectors are key in making customization work for businesses looking to stay competitive. Standard connectors give you insights and smooth flow for standard business ERP, but a custom connector needs to be built to get the complete advantages of a custom ERP. Customization is the name of the game in today’s world; custom connectors ensure that your custom ERPs work in the way intended without any functionality flaws. The following are how custom connectors help:

• Improved efficiency: By connecting different software systems and automating workflows, custom connectors help businesses save time and reduce manual labour. This can lead to increased efficiency and productivity and reduced errors and delays.
• Enable the enhanced functionality: Custom connectors ensure that the new features and capabilities in customized software systems function as intended allowing for better utilization of tools. This can help improve user experiences and make products more competitive in the marketplace.
• Increased data accuracy: When data transfer between different systems is done manually, there is a higher risk of errors and discrepancies. Custom connectors ensure that data is transferred accurately, securely, and consistently, reducing the likelihood of errors and improving the data quality.
• Streamlined workflows: They can automate repetitive tasks and streamline workflows, reducing the need for manual intervention and making it easier for businesses to manage their operations.
• Improved scalability: Custom connectors can help businesses scale their operations more easily by allowing them to connect new systems and applications as needed.

Why do you need a custom connector?

Defining the customisation before building the integration and the connector helps avoid reworks. Often the environment in the solution is theorized is not the same as the deployment phase environment; that’s one reason why there are challenges in the implementation of the connector. With custom connectors, you can foresee the upcoming changes and build for the future your team sees ahead.

• Customization begins after breaking down the requirements into phases and approaching them with an open mind.
• A custom connector would help your ERP customization work better by building data channels that provide deeper insights into business functions.
• Customizations indicate the organization understands its operations and is taking the initiative to find opportunities to optimize.
• A custom connector solves a critical problem that the organization faces. Custom-built features often become the most used features within the organization.

RubiCube- Easing through integration with custom connectors

Reaching a seamless integration point takes effort, understanding, and expertise. At CI, we build for zero data loss and construct our solution from the roots of your problem statement. Through custom integration, you can choose what you want to integrate through connectors that make the best happen. VIP BDN is an industry-standard tool used to create and report insights into your business; it follows a format, whereas your final reports might need a separate format. The way to take data from VIP BDN and automate the standard numbers to fall into the custom report that your business needs is done by custom connectors. CIG has performed product integration with such tools. It puts business-critical information in your hands, but even the most customisable tools need robust integration to work optimally.

• RubiCube from our product lineup is a predictive data analytics solution tool. Beyond the standard implementation, customized tools need custom connectors built to integrate your systems in the best way possible.
• RubiCube has more than 50 default and 10 custom connectors to work with over 1000 metadata connectors to synthesize metrics and visualize the direction in which your company is growing. CI Global ensures you get the right use out of the custom software through precise implementations.
• For example: In the wine and beverage industry, regulation is often a mix of the two. The data from ERP systems, like Sage 100, VIP BDN formats, promotions, and commissions, need to be integrated to ensure everything runs smoothly.
• Standard connectors exist for a few formats but lack the seamlessness across the system for which your businesses will require custom connectors. CI Global will build the custom connectors that are required to ensure integration is smooth and you get to see the whole picture from multiple sources of data.
• With an implementation time of a week, RubiCube boosts your business by focusing on metrics that matter. Automating the reporting methodology improved operational efficiency by more than 30%.

Unload the worries of a faulty integration with the help of custom connectors that ease your data flow. Modernize your systems with technology that moves the needle for your business; contact us today!