Digital plumbing: Building the foundation for your digital success

"So, what do you do anyway?"

Have you ever been at a socially responsible gathering of fellow humans, perhaps at a family event or school reunion, when someone without a technical background has asked you that question?

What do I say? I start off generic and slowly become more specific until the whites of my audience’s eyes show that I have gone too far. 

• “I work in IT” is usually a safe opening gambit, although this can translate to “I do websites” in the minds of my listeners. I don’t do websites. They scare me. 
• “I’m in integration,” I clarify, bracing for the inevitable follow-up. 
• “What’s integration?” 
• “Well,” I begin, inviting my audience to a comfortable armchair by the fireplace, “it’s like plumbing, but for computers…” 

Introducing: Digital plumbing

The digital plumbing analogy is a favourite fallback of mine. I like it because it does what an analogy should – it provides a familiar scenario to illustrate a more abstract concept. Just as pipes move water to where you need it, system integration moves data from sources to systems that can do something intelligent with it. But there are hidden depths to the analogy, too, more specific areas where integration is like plumbing – and those who practice it are like plumbers.

True story: A little while ago, our showerhead failed. It was old, tired, and needed replacing.  

So, I popped down to our local hardware store and found a replacement part. This was possible because the showerhead – and the pipe to which it was attached – followed certain standards. Imagine, instead, if each plumber used custom-made pipes and connectors of different shapes and sizes. I would have to find the original plumber who had installed the shower and ask him to whip up something that fit his particular brand of esotericism. This might be great for the plumber as it guarantees him a job for life but leaves the customer experience severely wanting. 

Integration also has standards that let us target the nirvana of true interoperability. Connectivity standards such as Open Automation Software (OAS) allow us to normalise our endpoints. There are industry messaging standards like UBL for supply chains, HL7 for health care, and ISO20022 for banking and finance. Where possible, good integration must allow for the interchange of connected systems without requiring significant changes to the ‘plumbing’ itself. 

We recently renovated our kitchen (on a budget), and the one luxury we permitted ourselves was a nice tap. It is sleek and gunmetal grey, pulls out of its stand for targeted cleaning, and can switch from hosepipe to sprinkler mode at the click of a button. Everyone who sees it remarks on it. But no one looks at the tap and thinks: “That’s a nice tap. I bet it has some great pipes bringing it water!” 

If the plumbing is doing its job, we often take it for granted. 

Similarly, IT system integration should be invisible. Think of a good mobile online banking app. In reality, the app itself is a client to data and services held within the core banking systems, with some well-designed user experience features to allow you to perform various banking-related activities from the comfort of your home. Integration allows the app to function. Yet, few people consider what’s going on “behind the scenes” or how their favourite apps are getting the data they need to be useful. 

A common integration principle is that of “smart endpoints, dumb pipes.” This means that the integration shouldn’t be doing anything too clever. We should keep business logic in the systems and domains that are responsible for it, with integration solely focused on moving data around or providing and governing access to these systems and services. 

Plumbing epitomises this principle. The pipes are solely there to move the water (or gas or beer) from one place to another. It’s what’s at the end of those pipes that will do something useful with it. It could be a fridge with an icemaker attachment, a Califont providing instant boiling water, or a water blaster ready to strip paint off a wall. In any case, the pipes don’t care what the water’s used for, their job is getting it there.  

So, if integration is like digital plumbing, that must make us digital plumbers! And there are aspects of a plumber’s life that can be applied not only to people who work in integration but to many professional services industries out there. 

Think of when you might involve a plumber. For the average homeowner, it’s probably when something has gone wrong, and you have water where water shouldn’t be. But project managers, builders, and architects employ plumbers at all stages of the building or renovation process. For a new build, you wouldn’t (or at least shouldn’t) consult a plumber after the walls are lined and the appliances are installed. This is even more important when the plumbing underpins the very purpose of a business, such as a pub or swimming pool. Trying to weave pipes around existing inflexible infrastructure does not make for a happy plumber.

Instead, they should be directly involved in the planning phase and continue to be consulted throughout the project's delivery. 

We, too, provide services for any phase of a project.  

Integration strategies outline how good data integration services can support the overall business goals of an organisation. We consult and deliver integration solutions for new systems and renovations to existing ones. We can fix an integration leak when something’s gone wrong or isn’t performing to expectations. The key is not to leave integration as an afterthought. Get the experts involved early, and you save yourself grief further down the line.