By Dan Barton
Director of Software Development & Integration
We all know that it’s good to talk. It’s a fact that this software developer buys into entirely (so you can stop it with the antisocial techie jokes right now!). From a technology perspective it can even be taken one step further – when it comes to your critical business systems, it is essential that they talk.
This will not be news to many. The past couple of decades have seen the issues of unintegrated legacy systems and data silos become a focus for those involved in enterprise architecture.
In response, businesses have tackled these challenges through off-the-shelf upgrades, compatible system selections or development of custom integrations. Leading and supporting projects like these forms a huge part of the work we do with clients using the Unit4 Financials solution.
As is the way with technology though, change and progress is rapid, and if businesses are to take advantage of the latest advances then the job of keeping software talking is never far from the top of any IT department’s agenda.
This has never been so true as in recent times with organisations exploring the benefits and requirements of system migration to the Cloud.
With software ecosystems developed over years – and custom integrations often in place to hook up different packages – businesses targeting a jump to the Cloud will know the challenge extends far beyond that of a simple server migration.
Cloud migrations are genuine business change projects that require a root and branch analysis of how systems talk to each other if serious disruption is to be avoided.
Our partners at Unit4 call this process the Cloud Journey 4U and as Unit4 Financials strategic partners we’re ready guide you through every step of the way. A great place to start is our Get Cloud Ready review which you can request right here.
Here at Level8, and in particular amongst our specialist software development arm, we recognised system integration within the Cloud as a burning issue. It prompted us to focus on the challenge of what we termed ‘Cloud-to-Cloud’ communication.
Unit4 Financials supports a core function within all of our clients’ system architectures – it’s where the money is taken care of after all – and reliable two-way exchange of data between the software and other core applications is critical.
Achieving this communication in the Cloud led to the development of our unique Level8 Portal.
You can think of this as a purpose-trained translator for any application that needs to communicate with Unit4 Financials. It’s also where our powerful custom additions for Unit4 Financials such as SMS, our automated bank statement loading software, are best deployed from.
We’ve got loads more information to get out there about the Level8 Portal including a special ‘Cloud-to-Cloud’ guide that’s coming soon (and I’ll be writing about right here) so be sure to stay tuned for that.
Want to find out more about the Level8 Portal or have a chat about your Cloud journey right away? Get in touch with the Level8 team today.
