Integration is the name of the game

Integration is clearly one of the buzz words when it comes to IT solutions – and it’s a trend that is likely to gain further momentum. “Although far from being a new concept, the past year has seen a definite increase in two areas,” says ShipShape Software general manager and systems architect J-L Koekemoer. “These include B2B (business-to-business) integration requirements with agents and their overseas partners, local suppliers and customers, as well as in-house integration requirements between various disparate systems within the same organisation.” And it’s not only corporate enterprises, but also smaller companies that are realising the immediate benefits of electronic data sharing between partners and systems – especially where high volumes are concerned, he said. “The traditional repetitive nature of manual data capturing is simply no longer viable if the information already exists somewhere else in an electronic form. Not tapping into that electronic source is to place yourself at a competitive disadvantage. The main benefits are of course 100% accuracy (or at least as accurate as your electronic source is) and then a time saving by an order of magnitude in an industry where time really equals money.” ShipShape has implemented dozens of integration projects over the years, says Koekemoer. “Most recently we implemented interfaces with a prominent local transporter for the automation of transport instructions, PODs and hourly location updates, which in turn feed into another system that provides automated status updates back to the importer. “Another important milestone for us was the successful implementation of our two-way CargoWise interfaces; first with the South African offices of a German-based agent back in August 2014, followed by another prominent international agent’s South African offices that went live in November 2014.” In the freight industry, there’s no one-size-fitsall answer. “A successful integration solution will allow for the necessary f lexibility to accommodate all the different nuances that are introduced to the project by varying business rules from one company to the next. The challenge for us internally is to continue to adjust our base integration model to be as universal as possible to save time and development costs.” The integration revolution is likely to continue, in Koekemoer’s view, particularly in light of global mergers and acquisitions of local agents. “There’s an ever-increasing need for a competitive edge in terms of getting information and shipment visibility to customers. In addition, more organisations are identifying areas of data repetition that are prime candidates for automated data exchange interfaces.” INSERT & CAPTION Corporate enterprises and smaller companies are realising the immediate benefits of electronic data sharing between partners and systems. – J-L Koekemoer