ThirdEye Consulting is my Solution Architect. I've been working in Salesforce for nine years, and I am an accredited System and Application Architect. I was fortunate enough to attend the System Architect Bootcamp in Dreamforce. It taught me a lot about integrations that I did not be aware of at the time. I've tried to provide here an overview of the lessons I learned, but aimed at salesforce integration professionals who are totally new to this.
My intention is not to show you how to incorporate every step. Instead, I want to provide you with an introduction to understand the concepts of integration, so that you can proceed to more complicated aspects later on. There are three major areas to be covered including integration types, capabilities, and patterns. Let's begin with the basics.
What is Salesforce Integration?
Salesforce Integration is the process of bringing two or more of your systems together. This allows you to streamline separate processes.
Consider scenarios in your own tech stack where information is kept in one place but required in another. It is possible to integrate these systems and handle all information through various business processes that run across multiple systems.
Why is integration so important?
We live in a digital era and we constantly need to increase our efficiency and improve the experience of our customers to remain competitive it's rare that a system operates independently today. Integration is a capability that must be improved to make it simpler and more flexible.
What exactly is an API?
API is an abbreviation for Application Programming Interface. It allows two software applications to communicate with each other.
If you download an app on your smartphone it connects to Internet, grabs data from a Server, and then displays it in a format that is readable. With the proper API the entire procedure should go without a hitch.
There are different types of APIs that I will be discussing in the "Salesforce Integration Capabilities' section.
Different Salesforce Integration Architectures
Each type of integration architecture comes with distinct advantages and disadvantages. These are the three kinds I'll discuss:
Point-to-Point Integration
Also called one-to-one integration a point-to-point system integration transmits a message to a different system through a 1-1 relationship. Imagine that you've got a sales application that sends new orders to the billing system, an application for shipping as well as a tracking system all separately as a separate integration. If you want the shipping and tracking to communicate, then that's an additional integration that has to be setup.
This type of integration has numerous disadvantages. It's expensive to build and maintain, and if you ever want to replace one of the systems, you will require several new integrations to connect to the systems.
Hub-and-Spoke Integration
With hub-and-spoke integration, you will have a central hub system that allows for the exchange of information between the systems. The hub is responsible for routing all traffic. You only have to create only one connection per new system this is an impressive improvement on point-to-point integration.
Enterprise Service Bus Integration (ESB).
Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) represents the evolution of the hub-and-spoke integrated architecture model. This is due to the integration engine that creates connections between software and other applications that are distinct.