Have you ever stopped to count how many different types of apps and software you have interacted with over the course of one day? You’ve sent dozens of emails and texts, consulted contact directories or address books, created documents using word processing, manipulated data with spreadsheets, listened to music and enjoyed video entertainment, plus checked posts on at least three social media platforms!
Each of these interactions took place on independent tools, some of which naturally allow for crossover activity, some of which do not. In the world of business, we are creating more efficiencies every day using apps and software solutions to streamline tasks and minimize time and effort to manage vast amounts of data and multiple communication processes. But how do we ensure that the use of numerous productivity tools does not ultimately defeat the premise of efficiency? Enter application integration tools which can seamlessly allow these apps to speak to one another. Sharing data and other information can suddenly become possible if “middleware” tools are employed to automate some key tasks. Generally, there is no need for coding or highly skilled IT professionals – most of these integration tools can be easily accessed and set up to merge data or information housed in your various apps and softwares.
Let’s take an example that could well be common for many active business people: Your company is well equipped with a powerful customer relationship management (CRM) or Contact Management software such as Contact Boss that organizes hundreds or thousands of items of contact data in an easily searchable format.. You’d like to send emails to half a dozen of your key clients without undertaking a lot of copy-pasting or tedious data transfers. Enter an application integration tool like Contact Boss connected to Zapier ( that supports easy automation to transfer info between your web apps.
Here’s another example that demonstrates how an everyday process can become even more efficient using app integration. Imagine you are using your favourite software to organize an event – naturally you would like to be sure that the all-important date is captured in your own calendar that you use day to day such as those included with the Microsoft Outlook or Google suite of tools. Using Zapier or any other integration tool, your event can be transferred seamlessly to your personal calendar.
Integration application tools such as Zapier usually require no coding and can significantly improve business efficiency. They can help simplify and automate business processes while reducing data redundancy or data silos. Application Integration enables several applications to communicate with each other. This facilitates data sharing, resource sharing, and process consolidation among the applications within an organization.
These middleware technologies quickly and easily make your teams/staff much more productive. You can use application integration to integrate customer accounts or contact records or to connect devices to monitor processes. There are a few possible advantages to consider when looking a integrating applications: i.e. if you and your staff are saving time, you are saving money. Your organization will be much better equipped to scale up when the time comes, as actions and interactions will be streamlined. And you are much less likely to experience errors if data and processes are integrated automatically rather than manually.
While it may seem complicated to think about implementing integration tools, consider that many software services aim to make it easy for you. The customer relationship management software Contact Boss for example has taken advantage of a popular middleware tool called Zapier to automate transfer of information between their database and commonly used address books and calendars such as Microsoft Outlook and Google. Greater efficiency is always a primary business goal, and it pays to optimize any available tools to achieve that result!
