Expectations for a Well-Integrated Software
When I got into the software business in the 90s the only real way to have a well-integrated experience was to purchase software from one vendor. There were some protocols and technologies that allowed programs to interoperate, but they were more of an exception rather than the rule. A lot of people chose software from one vendor primarily because it was well integrated. Many software companies died because the depth of their features in one application could not compete with broad and well-integrated product suites. Web services changed that a bit, and we have companies like DocuSign that are integrated into hundreds of other companies’ services: someone can send out a sales contract right from Salesforce without leaving the CRM, and upon signature can not only get the signed contract back but also move the Opportunity record to “Won” state based on the completion of the agreement.
Why do customer value integrated software so much? There are several reasons which are well covered in blogs and books, a couple of links are added at the end of the post. Here is a quick summary using the examples I know well: business process software.
1. Sharing information. Information can be enriched and can be more valuable when presented in the right context. Being able to pull information from one service into another can produce a different picture. For instance, when looking at a Salesforce account screen, it’s useful to see all the DocuSigned contracts with the company.
2. Error reduction. When systems are not integrated customers have to utilize several systems to accomplish a task. Switching context, copy and paste, looking at different browser tabs can lead to the user forgetting to file information, doing steps out of sequence or copying the wrong field to the wrong place.
3. Fast business processes. If I have a quarterly renewal for all my franchises a automated system can go through my CRM database and send out the right contracts with the right data for every customer. Upon completion computers can attach them to the right records. If humans had to use two tabs or spreadsheets to do the same — it would take days if not weeks.
4. Security. An integrated electronic register can have credentials to my merchant account and the credit card reader securely transmits the combined information to a system like Stripe. The store clerk does not know these credentials and can’t operate the systems independently.
5. Efficiency. Creating reliable online storage that scales across the globe is a tough task. Integrating with a Cloud service provider like GCP allow someone to get efficient storage and abide by data residency laws without having to physically be present in those countries.
6. Integration costs. When systems are not integrated enterprise customers, who are operating at scale, must do the heavy lifting themselves. As a result, they need to pay system integrators or hire internal engineers to integrate the systems to accomplish end to end tasks.
If these reasons appeal to you here are some expectations that people have from well-integrated software. Your roadmap might have just the first phase but ultimately if the integration gets a lot of usage you will need to plan on a full integration:
1. Protocol integration. This enables the basic interoperability — email can be sent and received by multiple providers, CSV can be parsed by
2. Authentication integration. The first thing that users expect when two systems are integrated is that the need to remember and type in a separate set of credentials goes away. There can be a federated authentication or system credentials, but if I am using two systems that are a part of the same business process the first step is to figure out how they pass the identity and authorization between them.
3. Sending the transaction and getting the status back. When users talk about the integration they are generally thinking that with “one click of a button” they are going to accomplish the scenario which previously required switching to a different system, maybe re-keying some data and then checking on how things went in that other system before resuming their workflow.
4. Bi-directional linkage. After the first two integration points are done, generally users want to be able to be able to see how data is linked from both systems. For instance, when I am in the Salesforce CRM, I want to see the signed contracts with a particular customer. If I am in DocuSign and I see a contract, it’s good to have a link back to the CRM record so I can view that this pertained to a particular customer and possibly can even click on the link to navigate back to the CRM context.
5. Billing integration. In a tight system to system integration the billing is often integrated as well. The simplest of these cases is Cloud platforms, sometimes when I click on a link to get a file it’s in a storage bucket, but I have no idea how much the software vendor pays for it and when. Sometimes the billing is passed through, but I don’t have to set up a separate account — the integrated system becomes a feature of primary software I am using.
Big technology companies like Google, Microsoft and Salesforce delivery software suites that are comprised of many services. Some of those services ended up as a part of the suite through acquisition. Some of them are built using different technologies. When people purchase a product or enable a feature from the same vendor they expect that all of the boxes above to be checked. For independent software vendors who form a partnership hopefully this outlines a list of expectations that an enterprise user might have when you tell them that you are “integrated with system X”. Supporting all of those scenarios requires a significant investment and the partnership for a deep integration needs to be well thought out.
References:
https://learn.g2.com/reasons-to-integrate-software
https://www.ibm.com/cloud/blog/enterprise-integration
