Business organisations and business leaders often tend to overlook the importance of integration in their business prospects. Tech firms that provide business solutions often face hurdles explaining why a business should adopt a model encompassing integration strategies. The prime issue is that there are no readymade demonstrations regarding the benefits of business-wide integration. IT leaders cannot provide live demonstrations due to two key constraints – 

The coronavirus pandemic has seen a surge of lockdown all across the globe. In these trying times, people are forced to maintain social distance and most of the organisations across the globe have adopted the work from home policy. But how do you adapt to such a drastic change in daily routine? 

A study conducted on the American workforce showed that almost 46% of US companies have shifted their office workers to home. This has led to almost 40% of the office workers having to work from home due to quarantine. Many people might feel working from home should be a piece of cake but the reality is much more different. The study shows even though working from home initiatives has grown exponentially in the past decade, it is nowhere near the percentage of the total workforce. A mere 3.4% of the workforce is engaged in work from home arrangements. So it is safe to assume that the majority of the people caught in this pandemic are struggling in working from home for an extended period.

April 2020. The world had gone eerily silent. The streets were empty; popular tourist destinations and religious sites were laid bare. It was almost as though someone had switched everything off. The news stations whipped themselves into a frenzy. Words like ‘epidemic’, ‘death toll’ and ‘social distancing’ danced across headlines everywhere. Coronavirus, also known as COVID-19, had the planet in its grip. The world retreated, hiding indoors and watched with bated breath.

How did we get here?

Background

The cases began in 2019, when three patients in Wuhan, China with pneumonia were detected to be infected with a novel coronavirus. By February 2020 there were 50,000 patients with the coronavirus. The virus quickly spread across China, sparking an epidemic, resulting in over 81,740 cases and more than 3300 deaths. This prompted a lockdown in many regions of the country.

However, the measures were too little too late. The virus was already beginning to spread. By January 2020, there were other confirmed cases from three other countries: Thailand, Japan and South Korea. All the cases were determined to have been exported from China.

Legacy systems are operational software that was designed and used for various business and tech-related landscape solutions. Notice how we mentioned “designed” and “used”. The reason is that legacy systems are considered to be outdated processes that are however still used in various organizational process management. And that is not good news for business operations.

The world has seen a large-scale digital transformation in recent years. While many different sectors have moved on with the times, others have lagged far behind. This is especially true when it comes to the supply and logistics sector. It is ironic how the areas that depend on and make use of data the most are unable to manage, access and distribute the data effectively.

Data complexity is a major issue in logistics and supply chain management. The sheer volume of data can be overwhelming. Whether dealing with stocks, bills, accounts or inventories, businesses often have no idea how to efficiently handle their data. This can be a major problem as data or information means everything nowadays. Instead, the data is stored up and almost impossible to access.

On the other hand, data complexity is actually a double-edged sword. The data can and should be used to the business’s advantage. Integration can change businesses and their customers can interact with each other using this data. This is where the API-led approach provides real-time, two-way connectivity, accessibility, and communication. This in turn, can revolutionize the world of logistics which depends wholly on reliable and intuitive data.

What is API-Led Connectivity?

The API-led connectivity approach defines an operating model that can help businesses systematically arrange their assets. It is an organized way of linking data with applications through multipurpose APIs. The approach allows and encourages decentralizing access to data. This can lower the dependence and workload of the IT department.