Ah, the naivety of the 90s! Businesses clung to the hope that they could find ONE software solution that would satisfy every business needs and do so affordably and quickly. Today, the world of business incorporates legacy systems, best-of-breed solutions, reporting software, industry-specific apps, mobile applications for smart phones and tablets and every manner of sales, contact, inventory, warehousing, financial, production, distribution, legal and enterprise software.
If we have abandoned the dream of ONE solution, we haven’t abandoned the idea that we must integrate the data in all systems to avoid drowning in a sea of useless information. How can we integrate systems designed in different code, different data base configuration, and different platforms and frameworks and tools?