By Ashwini Nagendra Prasad, HEXstream lead—Integrations Center of Excellence

Proper IT/OT integration ensures all the systems within an enterprise work in harmony. It boosts productivity and enhances utilities’ day-to-day operations. The goal of integration is to streamline and simplify communication between systems while solving the application-silo problem.

Integration is not just about merging technologies or systems; it’s about aligning all aspects of the business—people, processes and culture. A holistic integration approach focuses on the synergy between different departments, ensuring they work together smoothly from day one. By addressing all components of the business, organizations can achieve deeper, more sustainable integration.

But if we all agree on the importance of integration, why do so many of us struggle to achieve it?

I see many companies struggle, since they often simply overlook the importance of integration. Integration can be underestimated as simply data exchange. Companies often fail to implement proper integration strategies. Also, integrating for the sake of technology alone is a missed opportunity; integration should be a means to achieve meaningful business outcomes, not just another box to check.

Why Traditional Integration Falls Short?

Traditional integration strategies have often been linear, focusing primarily on merging systems and aligning processes with limited consideration for other factors like vision, employee engagement and sustainability. While these methods can provide short-term operational efficiency, they often ignore the broader, long-term needs of the organization. Blaming the product for the shortcomings and resistance to changes affects Integration when in reality the integration strategy—not the product—it to blame.

How to Approach Integration with a Fresh Perspective?

To create a more sustainable and effective integration strategy, organizations must rethink their approach. Here are key elements of integration with a fresh perspective:

1. Start with a clear vision: Companies must clearly define what integration will entail at their enterprise, uUnderstanding the business drivers, scope and scale of integration while assessing the current architecture and existing systems.
2. Involve stakeholders early: Engage business teams, operation teams and other stakeholders early on and gather and utilize diverse perspectives.
3. Leverage the technology: Designing the correct integration architecture that includes the right type of data exchange/data enrichment/data transformation, the right integration patterns, robust error-handling and exception management, and scalability and performance.
4. Emphasize security and compliance to include comprehensive security measures and robust compliance protocols for communcation.
5. Scalability and future-proofing ensures your approach is change-adaptable and there is room for future extensions and improvements.

IT/OT integration is complex. That’s just a fact. And while they often focus on technical tasks, companies must not forget the broader, holistic aspects of integration. To maximize the benefits of integration, companies should adopt a comprehensive, strategic approach that considers all facets—technical, business and operational—throughout the entire lifecycle of the project.

How is your organization approaching integration? What challenges have you encountered and what strategies have you implemented? Are you struggling with your integration (be it cloud or on-prem or custom built)? I’d love to connect with you to help define the right integration strategy for you and help define the standards and governance needed to standardize your process for the entire project lifecycle. Click here to contact me.