Integration of IBM i with Magento is now easy-Check How

Businesses have been using IBM i for years now and switching to some other platform suddenly is next to impossible for them. Therefore, software integration is one of the best strategies to keep using the efficient features of IBM i along with modern applications.

One reason why businesses think of migrating to other modern platforms is when they plan to take their business online through ecommerce. Of course, integration to modern ecommerce ecosystems can be daunting but with the help of proper assistance and technologies this process is seamless and profitable. Especially when it is about integration of Magento with IBM i, it is simpler and more harmless as it secures the business logic to remain within the existing IBM i system and enables the data to flow in real time to Magento.

The features of both Magento and IBM i when combined can create a tremendous ecommerce system for a business. Where Magento supports streamlined and properly structured online selling, IBM i/IBMi enables secured and quick online transactions. The myth that integration with IBM i locks the data within the system is not true. There are various tools and programs that allow proper flow of information from IBM i to the modern platform.

Tools used for Magento and IBM i integration

The integration of IBM i with an external modern ecommerce platform such as Magento requires third party tools. Here are a few methods that are very helpful in making the process easier.

Web Services

Web services are one of the best options for integration in IBM i because it has the feature of creating the web services and hosting them within the system. This reduces the overall cost of the project as you do not have to buy any new software.

IBM WebSphere MQ Series

IBM WebSphere MQ Series is inexpensive and is helpful to the entire team. This software tool is already available on IBM i and provides safe and secure message delivery between your IBM i and Magento.

Mule Enterprise Service Bus

Mule ESB is generally used for complex projects and acts as a middleware between the two systems. Basically, this tool processes transactions between the IBM i and Magento.

Successful integration b/w IBM i and Magento

• Finalizing the ecommerce concept:
  The first and foremost thing to decide is the motive of your ecommerce site. Whether it will be focused more on revenue and profits, enhancing customer experience or decreasing the costs. A clear ecommerce strategy will help you proceed further with a successful integration.
• Involvement of the sales team:
  The other thing is to involve the sales team as much as you can. They know better about the customers and a good ecommerce site will help them to meet the customers’ needs effectively. They should know that how the ecommerce site works and can be useful in sales.
• Assign a project leader:
  A project leader guides the entire flow of the project. An ecommerce site requires the involvement of marketing, sales, operations, finance and IT team. Therefore, a project leader must have the expertise to drive the project through all the checks.
• Knowing the primary source of data:
  Once the project strategy is set, understanding the source of data is important. For an ecommerce site data is the soul and for integration between IBM i and Magento generally data is already there in IBM i. Therefore, it becomes all the more necessary to decide where each data will be stored and which system will be the owner of the data.
• Use of Business Logic:
  The right Business logic is required to process an ecommerce order properly. After assigning the data owner it’s time to define the business logic. Ecommerce systems mostly possess certain functionalities such as item pricing, taxing, and order processing that is duplicated in the ERP, hence causing the redundancies. Therefore, a business function must be chosen considering the redundancies within the system that is best suited for processing that function.
• Leveraging the best integration methodology available:
  As technology is advancing day by day, integration technologies have also boarded the same bandwagon. To choose from several technologies is very difficult, therefore, it’s mostly recommended to go with the one that is already being used. But decision completely depends on your business requirements. When deciding on which methodology to use, you need to consider the initial programming needs as well as ongoing support.

Conclusion

Following the above steps eases the integration process and makes your legacy AS400 / iSeries system, a modern ecommerce marketplace. Features of Magento when combined with that of ‘The IBM i you get a system that is unbeatable and highly competitive. Using the latest technology, the flow of data between the two becomes very seamless and secure. Programmers have integrated IBM i with modern ecommerce platform for various clients and solved their ecommerce problems. Give us a call today to know more.