What role does the web integrator play in the process of digital transformation?

Also, you should not miss the previous part of the article series about web integration – What is a front-end factory. It is a must-read!

Much has been already written about what we can imagine under the digital transformation term. Regarding digital transformation, there have been long-term interesting debates across the Internet, within which it has been solved at many places what has been the main driver of the digital transformation – whether it’s Cloud, BI (Big Data), IoT (Internet of Things), or APIs. Many professional articles it has been analyzed from all points of view, what will be the impacts of digital transformation on various industries, and how fast progress in various fields of digital transformation. Likewise, many IT experts have been for several years preoccupied with thinking on, which sectors will be affected by the digital transformation most and when.

I’ll try to explain in this blog post that is the role of the web integrator in the process of digital transformation and answer the question, where is his place?

What is digital transformation?

There are lots of definitions for digital transformation. You can find one of these definitions (like almost everything) on Wikipedia. Further, you can find them on websites and in presentations by smart consulting firms, such as Capgemini, or such interesting sites as i-SCOPE and many others.

I’d adhere to the following definitions:

“The digital transformation is a fundamental and accelerating change of business activities, processes, competencies, and models fully exploiting the potential of digital technologies and their impact on the whole society.”

On the other hand, digital transformation cannot only be simplified to the tal marketing, but the digital consumer also behabehaviorthe digitization of information (the introduction of “paperless” processes). Although individual topics are important for the digital transformation by themselves they are not sufficient for such a fundamental change, which is brought about by the digital transformation.

The term digital transformation includes much more. It is a continuous process, through which enterprises adapt to major changes with their customers and markets or stimulate them, that with the help of digital technologies they innovate and introduce new business models, products, and services, combining digital and physical aspects of the company towards customers while increasing the operational efficiency and business performance at the same time.

What is the role of a web integrator within the digital transformation?

I have already described, who is a web integrator, including a focus on the presentation layer within the abstraction of the three-tier architecture and the Front-end Factory as a key competence of the web integrator.

How this all fits into the digital transformation? First of all, you need to realize that the web integrator is an important partner in the digital transformation (but by no means the only one).

Due to the impact of digital transformation on all aspects of the business, the close cooperation between various entities that are involved in the transformation comes to the forefront. And that both inward – (internal IT system integrator and other suppliers) as well as outward because companies need to present their digital presence in the digital environment (this is where digital agencies enter the entire process). All this is happening for one reason – to achieve or meet the set business goals.

Within the digital transformation, it is worth revisiting a simplified understanding of the front-end, purely as a presentation layer within the concept of the three-tier architecture. The Frontend should be seen as any connection to the digital environment, i.e. including user “invisible” interface – API (Application Programming interfaces) rather than purely “tangible” (today touchscreen) multichannel. Indeed, the multichannel is or may be a consumer of these APIs. Nevertheless, such interfaces are located in the “Business Logic” layer, according to the concept of the three-tier architecture.

Even within the layer of business logic further fragmentation occurs and demands on API is in terms of flexibility, security, and performance similar to demands on the presentation layer. For this reason, I can see lots of space for a web integrator (in close cooperation with other suppliers) in the preparation of these APIs not only from a technical point of view (development) but also from the consultation (analytical and design) point of view.

API to rule them all. Really?

Already now there are companies, whose business is built primarily on providing APIs to the world.

And vice versa some companies use APIs of others for their business without having to have their own “core” systems. And many others still have to go through a such transformation.

API alone is certainly not a new idea. But the possibility of opening them and using them for specific business leads to fundamental questions about the value of own services and the ability (or inability) to provide them to the digital world in the form of a suitable API. Indeed, without tools supporting the preparation high-quality city (and documented) open APIs such as Apiary the “API revolution” would certainly not take a place, because total confusion would occur and everyone would do his/her way. Which is exactly the state you do not want to get to.

Nevertheless, API itself is not any panacea either an API cannot be considered a synonym for digital transformation. It is again only part, albeit substantial, of the whole process, which must be closely linked with several necessary changes within the company and in particular with the change of usual thought patterns.

In any case, however, API is the area of intense interest of the web integrator, for its ability to interconnection (integrate) the digital internal and external world of the customer.

With the web integrator, the way to your goal is easier

So that companies can tackle new market opportunities, they must within the digital transformation change their business models and rethink business processes, work habits, and end-user experiences. The web integrator is a partner in the introduction of these innovations, who will greatly help to achieve the set objectives.

You can now follow to the next part – article called: What’s your front-end strategy?