Understanding the Difference between Data Integration & Data Interoperability

0 February 28, 2018

Transformation-based data integration has nearly reached its capacity. Therefore, for a business to meet the growing data needs of the 21^st century, businesses must move to direct dataset interoperability. With the transition from data integration to direct dataset interoperability, companies will see incredibly powerful advantages.

So what is data integration, and why must direct dataset interoperability replace it? In the article “Integration vs. Interoperability: What’s the difference and why should you care?” authored by Bobby Roberts, he contrasts two important approaches for combining data from multiple information systems. The author contrasts data integration, which is commonly used today, with the more modern technology of dataset interoperability.

Leaving Behind Data Integration, Moving Toward Direct Dataset Interoperability

To be clear, data integration is defined by IBM as “the combination of technical and business processes used to combine data from disparate sources into meaningful and valuable information.” Organizations spend a fortune on tedious data integration projects as they attempt to get the information they need to run their business.

While many in the IT industry have spent their time improving the data integration process, few ever stopped to ask the critical question, “Why are we building information systems to be disparate?”

Every day organizations are creating systems to store data without addressing the capability to share data directly across multiple information systems. With current information system design methods, every data system is disparate as designed and may be best characterized as an information silo.

Whenever data was needed from multiple disparate information systems, a form of data integration was used. As such, data integration became the offspring of these deficient disparate information systems. Now, information technology is about to change as we move from data integration methods to more efficient direct dataset interoperability.

Looking at Enforced Data Integrity

Maxxphase has developed a design-based solution for making disparate information systems compatible. Maxxphase standardizes master data representations in each data system to resolve their conflicts.

The result is a set of standardized information systems that are directly interoperable. These compatible master data representations enforce data integrity among these now directly interoperable information systems.

Now that information systems are being designed to be compatible, they’re able to share their data directly. As defined by Bobby Roberts, “Interoperability is real-time data exchange between systems without middleware.”

For our team at Maxxphase, direct dataset interoperability is achieved without middleware or data transformations, as suggested by Roberts. However, data is never exchanged between directly interoperable information systems. Instead, data is seamlessly shared, in place, with the data from any compatible information systems.

Maxxphase Data Compatibility Standards are a purely design-based solution that is the catalyst to moving information technology away from current integration methods and into the bright future of direct interoperability.

The end of the data integration era is nearing. Thanks to Maxxphase Data Compatibility, businesses can create true direct data interoperability throughout their organization, throughout an industry, and even across industries.

With the transition to direct interoperability, organizations will be able to share unlimited business information and intelligence, finding unprecedented business agility, streamlined IT, strengthened strategic partnerships, and much more.

The real difference between data integration and direct data interoperability is simple—it’s Maxxphase. Contact us today to put data interoperability into action for your business.