With a business environment that is constantly changing, it is undoubtedly difficult for each one of us to get capabilities right on track. According to an IDC report, investments in public cloud services are expected to grow to $203.4 billion globally. In addition, Gartner predicts the worldwide public cloud service market will grow to $331.2B in 2022. As a response, many enterprises are turning to iPaaS to supplement the weaknesses of ESB. The Enterprise Service Bus market is forecasted to register a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of over 6.54% during the forecast period of 2018-2023.
As of today, it is the system and software that makes or breaks our ability to adapt, grow, and remain competitive in this digital world. That’s where the legacy system modernization kicks in. In simple terms, legacy modernization is all about updating systems, software, or applications in part or in full to support your business goals and processes.
The global application modernization market covers 5 major geographic regions, namely, Asia Pacific (APAC), North America, Europe, Middle East and Africa (MEA), and Latin America. Since the APAC region holds more than 50% of the world’s population, APAC is expected to hold the highest CAGR during the specified forecast period.
Many organizations choose the Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) route in their journey to Legacy System Modernization. Now, however, organizations that need a legacy modernization choose to go the iPaaS way. It is crucial that we understand what made them change their course of action.
Explore why organizations have made the shift from ESB to iPaaS in this blog.
ESB, iPaaS, and what you need to know about them
Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) is a traditional integration method; it is fundamentally an architecture with rules and principles for integrating numerous applications. The basic concept of an ESB architecture is integrating different applications by putting a communication bus between applications, which allows the applications to communicate without dependency on or knowledge of other systems.
Ideally, an integration platform as a service (iPaaS) is a cloud-based approach for connecting applications and data. It could be cloud-to-cloud, on-premise to cloud, or on-premise to on-premise; an iPaaS can help you achieve the desired integration needs faster and more efficiently than other traditional solutions like ESB. Modern iPaaS solutions are blowing through integration barriers by empowering users to connect applications without any code or generate APIs for app integrations within minutes.
ESB or iPaaS, which one should you choose?
Though both ESB and iPaaS serve the same purpose of integrating enterprise systems and applications, there are many differences. Here are the major differences in the level of scalability and complexity of ESB and iPaaS.
Type of System: iPaaS is a set of integration tools delivered from a public cloud and requires no on-premises hardware or software; some iPaaS solutions have evolved to support on-premises systems. iPaaS enables enterprises to connect and integrate their cloud applications and systems quickly. Meanwhile, ESB is an on-premises software architecture model with an excellent on-premises footprint.
Level of Complexity: ESB is designed to integrate complex IT systems and architecture to hold an enterprise’s on-premises and legacy systems together. iPaaS, on the other hand, offers a lightweight integration solution that comprises critical requirements of cloud-based services.
Scalability: ESB is for vertical integration; more than a decade ago, when systems were the heavyweights of enterprise software, ESB was well suited for its complex internal systems and architecture. However, for a modern enterprise with integration needs consisting of third parties, partners, and applications such as software as a Service (SaaS) solutions, iPaaS is the best solution. iPaaS is quick, lightweight, and flexible.
ESB does more harm than good
Enterprise Service Bus moves data from application to application; this point-to-point integration results in custom integration code that spreads among applications and numerous technical and infrastructural challenges that pull an organization from reaching the desired results. Major pain points of ESB that hinder Legacy System Modernization when using an ESB are –
- It is not easy to access data in ESB
- Data transactions are more time- consuming
- There is no central way to monitor the integration
- ESB can bypass any vital step in a business process
- ESB integration cannot be converted into a hybrid
On the other hand, iPaaS is packed with many benefits that aid your integration needs and results.
Benefits of iPaaS modernization
Accelerate and seamless Integrations
When an iPaaS hits integration, the entire integration process will be faster and easier. Unlike ESB, iPaas does not require hand-coded integrations. iPaaS lets you integrate applications without any delay, be it on-premise or cloud services. In an iPaaS solution, the pre-built integrations and low-code or no-code API creation tools allow you to quickly and easily build connections.
Flexible and Scalable software
Unlike traditional methods such as ESB, when it comes to integration, adding new solutions and services to your network with an iPaaS solution is easy, and it eliminates the labor, costs, hardware, and time commitment required. Adding new solutions or removing those from your list of iPaaS connections does not give you a significant loss. In addition, iPaaS solutions offer you greater flexibility to scale up or down depending on changing business demands.
Low-cost Integration
Having an ESB for integrations can cost you thousands of dollars per year. Custom codes incur some more dollars and do not mention the price and maintenance fees of on-site hardware that these solutions require. On the other hand, an iPaaS connects your apps in minutes, manages the connections, and maintains the associated data for an affordable cost without incurring a significant up-front investment.
Better Security and Data Compliance
iPaaS solutions have advanced security and governance features than traditional integration solutions (ESB). iPaaS includes features that satisfy corporate and regulatory compliance standards (GDPR, HIPAA, CCPA, SOC2), Role-Based Access Control (RBAC), and support for the latest enterprise authentication technology (OpenID Connect, Active Directory, OAuth), and advanced API logging capabilities.
Real-time integration and Big data capabilities
iPaaS technology is native to the cloud; hence, the integration solution is uniquely suited to handle the high-volume, real-time data integrations, and near-real-time processing demands of a modern cloud enterprise IT architecture. iPaaS quickly synchronizes data cloud-to-cloud, on-premise-to-cloud, and on-premise-to-cloud and plays a crucial role in overcoming your big data growth hurdles.
Diminished integration redundancy
iPaaS connections are ideal and efficient for multi-tenant applications because they reduce integration redundancies while offering rapid scalability for onboarding new tenants. As cloud services also eliminate the massive hardware and software requirements that a multi-tenant architecture could require.
Choose PreludeSys as your iPaaS implementation Partner
After analyzing the challenges in ESB and the benefits of iPaaS, you should have a clear view of how iPaaS can assist in your Legacy System Modernization. To know more on this, take a look at this 4-minute read on how to choose an iPaaS solution for your enterprise as the next step in your integration journey.
PreludeSys can ensure a seamless transition from ESB to iPaaS, at low costs, through our On-Demand-Services, in which you have to pay for consumption only, since the work takes place remotely. Our iPaaS implementation experts will ensure that you receive maximum ROI from your integration by formulating a strategic iPaaS implementation plan synthesized specifically for your enterprise. Book a consultation appointment today with our experts.
