Integration has long been and will continue to be a critical area of improvement for companies—99 percent report understanding the benefits of being more connected, and yet 89 percent are still reporting challenges with poor integration strategies. Especially with a quote-to-cash project, you simply can’t afford to shortchange this stage of the journey. 

Discover Gilles Muys’ top tips for integration and insights into integration vendors with selected highlights from his book below:

1. Why a testing strategy is critical for integration

“In order to ensure that the business experiences minimal downtime during a deployment, a solid testing strategy is a must! This usually requires procuring testing environments from different vendors, manufacturing test data in each application so you can run end-to-end testing scenarios, and coordinating hands-on testing time with all respective parties. Whatever your systems integration testing strategy is, make sure it is executed to the letter!’” —Gilles Muys 

2. Be wary of overcustomization 

“The only way to avoid excessive customization is to constantly push back against these customization requests and convince others to adhere to out-of-the-box functionality as much as possible. You also want to show your critics that they can still get what they want out of an integration, even if you aren’t able to adhere to their exact specifications and customizations.” —Gilles Muys 

3. The only reliable vendor choice for integration

“MuleSoft is the only real player in the game that is able to support API-led connectivity, essentially creating integrations through a network of APIs. The structure design typically pairs one API to one purpose, which is fine. But, used as a vehicle for a Salesforce integration, MuleSoft’s Anypoint design makes processes flexible, scalable, and manageable. In comparison to the standard API designs—which require constructing a unique API for each function—each connection with MuleSoft’s Anypoint platform is reusable. Further, the platform helps create a network of pluggable assets promoting self-service tasks among team members and helps them complete projects faster.” —Gilles Muys 

For a complete understanding of the integration phase, keep reading from Gilles’ expertise in his book, The Definitive QTC Guide, available on Amazon.