According to ONEiO's State of Integration Solutions 2025 report, the average organization now manages over 100 SaaS applications, with large enterprises routinely handling 250-500+ applications. 

This creates integration bottlenecks. It consumes resources and slows business operations. What could be a solution? System integration services. 

This article covers what you need to know about system integration services. So you'll make a better decision.

What is a system integration service?

A system integration service connects your different software apps, databases, and IT systems. This lets these systems share data and work together smoothly. System integration services bring a few benefits to your company: 

• Cut out manual work when you move info between systems. 
• Automate workflows across your platforms.  
• Ensure data flows consistently throughout your ITSM clients’ company.

System integrators handle the planning, setup, and upkeep of these connections. They help you create unified tech ecosystems from separate tools.

What are the key aspects of system integration services? 

System integration services focus on four main aspects. Each aspect plays a key role:

1. Connect systems

System integration services link your different software platforms. They use APIs, middleware, or custom connections. This creates unified workflows. Data flows automatically between apps like your CRM, ITSM, ERP, and other business tools. 

The goal is simple: You cut out manual data entry, and you keep info synced across your entire tech stack.

2. Improve efficiency

System integration services automate your repetitive tasks. They cut out duplicate work across your departments. You don't manually copy customer info from your CRM to your service desk anymore. 

Integrated systems handle transfers automatically. This reduces your errors and saves you time. Your team can focus on valuable work instead of data management.

3. Enhance data flow

Proper system integration ensures accurate, real-time data movement between your systems. Customer updates in one app instantly appear on related platforms. 

Everyone on your team works with current info. This cuts out data silos. You get complete visibility across your company's operations and customer relationships.

4. Enable digital transformation

System integration services support your broader tech initiatives. They connect new cloud apps with your existing systems. 

This allows you to modernize gradually without disrupting operations. You can adopt new tools while keeping connections to legacy systems. This creates a bridge to future-ready tech setups.

What are the common types of system integration services?

Here are some common types of system integration services: 

Enterprise application integration

This connects your large business apps like ERP, CRM, and ITSM platforms. You get unified workflows and shared data across departments.

Data integration

This combines info from your multiple sources into centralized repositories. You can do analytics, reporting, and business intelligence across fragmented data sources.

Cloud integration

This links your cloud-based apps with on-premises systems. You get hybrid tech environments that leverage both cloud benefits and existing infrastructure.

Legacy system integration

This connects your older systems with modern apps. You extend the life of existing investments while enabling access to your current tech.

API development and integration

This creates and manages application programming interfaces. Your different software systems can communicate and share functionality in standard ways.

How do system integration services work?

Here's how system integration services typically work:.

1. Assessment and planning

The integration team looks at your current systems to understand what you have and what you need. This helps them create a clear roadmap for your project.

2. Integrators analyze your current systems in detail. 

They examine how your applications work. They identify which systems need to connect and what data needs to flow between them.

3. Connection strategies design

This isn't a one-size-fits-all approach. System integrators create custom plans based on your unique business requirements and technical environment.

4. Build the necessary interfaces

After that, system integrators build the necessary interfaces to make everything work together. This involves technical development work to create the actual connections between your systems.

5. Ongoing support

Finally, they provide ongoing support to keep everything running smoothly for you. Integration isn't a set-it-and-forget-it solution. Systems change, and your integrations need regular maintenance and updates to keep working properly.

What are the typical challenges with system integration services?

You can face several common challenges with system integration services:

• Cost overruns and unpredictable expenses:
  Your integration projects often exceed budgets. This happens due to scope creep, unexpected tech complications, and ongoing maintenance requirements you didn't estimate properly upfront.

• Extended setup timelines:
  Your complex integrations often take months longer than planned. This delays business benefits and creates operational disruptions during extended transition periods.

• Technical complexity and expertise gaps:
  Your integration projects require knowledge you lack internally. This leads to dependency on external consultants and potential knowledge transfer issues.

• Ongoing maintenance and support challenges:
  Your integrated systems require continuous monitoring, updates, and troubleshooting. This creates permanent overhead that strains your IT resources and budgets.

The new approach to system integrations: Integration Ops

Integration Ops treats integration as a continuous operational capability for you. It's not a one-time project.

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Benefits of integration ops:

• Predictable operational costs:
  You get fixed monthly subscriptions that replace unpredictable project fees and emergency maintenance charges. This cuts out budget surprises and cost overruns that plague traditional integration approaches.
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• Faster time-to-value:
  Your integration services go live in days or weeks instead of months. You get immediate access to critical business data and operational efficiency gains.
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• Automatic adaptation:
  Your integrations adapt automatically when vendors change formats, APIs, or authentication methods. This cuts out costly downtime and emergency repairs that break traditional connections.
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• Reduced management overhead:
  Your technical teams focus on strategic initiatives instead of maintaining integration pipelines. You don't have to troubleshoot connection failures that consume your valuable resources.
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• Scalable growth architecture:
  You can add new data sources or customers without rebuilding the integration infrastructure. This enables rapid business expansion without technical constraints for you.

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Integration Ops enables AI-driven automation, predictive issue resolution, and no-code integration configuration. 

ONEiO leads this transformation. We ensure your integration operations are future-ready, automated, and scalable.

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Why ONEiO is the ideal integration partner for IT service management

ONEiO delivers Integration Ops as a comprehensive managed service. 

We designed it specifically for you as an IT and technology service provider. Unlike conventional integration providers who build custom solutions and disappear, ONEiO is different. We manage your integrations as a continuous operational service.

With ONEiO Integration Ops, you gain:

• Complete lifecycle automation:
  ‍ONEAI® ensures your integrations adapt to changes without manual intervention. This cuts out operational bottlenecks that slow your service delivery.

• Simplified management:
  You can manage integrations easily without technical complexity. This enables faster responses to your business needs.

• Growth-ready scalability:
  Your integration operations scale automatically as your business grows. This removes technical barriers from your expansion plans.

• Cost predictability:
  You get fixed subscription pricing that replaces unpredictable project costs and lengthy setups that strain your budgets.

ONEiO Case Study Example: Bayer

In this case study, we will show you how ONEiO supported Europe's largest IT outsourcing project for Bayer. 

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Driven by the desire to allow their IT personnel to be freed from serving their infrastructure, Bayer launched an outsourcing program to run the IT for their global operations. 

They were redesigning their entire IT service delivery, and in turn flipping their current integration landscape upside down. 

As Bayer’s Service Integration Project Lead, Marco Peetz, put it: “We are a life science company, not an IT technology company – and that’s what we want to focus on.” 

The contract, which began on January 1, 2020, started with one of the program’s suppliers, Capgemini, partnering with us at ONEiO to lead the integration of Bayer’s entire supplier ecosystem.

What challenge did ONEiO solve for Bayer? 

Bayer had the target of a 6-month project. It was described as a “workable ecosystem”, where providers should work independently from each other and exchange transactional data like incidents or requests seamlessly across their systems. 

How did we make it happen? 

After a proof of concept of 3-5 key endpoints, work quickly began on building Bayer’s IT ecosystem. 

However, as the project progressed, the complexity of the project increased as new instances needed to be incorporated.

Bayer decided they wanted a green field instance that was being built for the service integration part of the provider ecosystem. 

With that in mind, they were facing a challenge: they needed to synchronize the current productive instance with the greenfield instance.

Without ONEiO, this task would likely have been a large project spanning several months. 

With ONEiO, Bayer was able to achieve synchronization of incidents, problems, and change requests between the existing and greenfield ServiceNow instances within 1 to 2 weeks.

Bayer also easily integrated a legacy Remedy system to ensure that legacy services could also be integrated into the future mode of operation. 

In the end, the integration of the legacy Remedy solution happened through the existing and greenfield ServiceNow instances to an actual provider instance. 

Here are some of the positive reviews that Bayer left for ONEiO:

• High-quality, continued support 

“We also get support along with it whenever we need it. That wasn’t just an empty promise, we actually got all the support that we needed and when we needed it.”

• Marco Peetz concludes: 

"I didn’t know how we could achieve that with native integrations because it’s so complex. But with ONEiO that was just a matter of configuring it. It was really awesome”

Read the complete case study with Bayer here.

The bottom line on system integration services

You still need system integration services for connecting modern business apps. But the traditional project-based approach no longer meets your current business needs. 

You require continuous adaptation, predictable costs, and rapid response capabilities. Traditional system integrators struggle to provide these for you.

Integration Ops represents the evolution of integration services. It treats your connections as operational capabilities rather than one-time projects. 

This shift enables faster setups, automatic maintenance, and scalable growth for you. 

You get this without the constraints of traditional integration approaches.

By partnering with a managed integration service provider like ONEiO, you eliminate integration bottlenecks while focusing your team's expertise on delivering exceptional IT services.

Ready to transform your integration strategy? 

Discover how ONEiO's Integration Ops approach can accelerate your service delivery and reduce operational complexity. Your customers (and your team) will thank you.

Frequently asked questions about system integration services

What are examples of system integration?

Examples of system integration include combining a CRM with an email marketing tool, connecting ERP systems with inventory databases, syncing HR platforms with payroll software, integrating e-commerce platforms with shipping APIs, and linking IoT devices with cloud analytics. Each integration improves data flow, automation, and operational efficiency.

What are the three types of system integration?

The three types of system integration are vertical integration, horizontal integration, and star integration. Vertical integration connects systems by function, horizontal integration links subsystems through a central interface, and star integration creates point-to-point connections between all components for maximum interaction.

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