[1] Many types of business software such as supply chain management applications, ERP systems, CRM applications for managing customers, business intelligence applications, payroll, and human resources systems typically cannot communicate with one another in order to share data or business rules.
For this reason, such applications are sometimes referred to as islands of automation or information silos.
This lack of communication leads to inefficiencies, wherein identical data are stored in multiple locations, or straightforward processes are unable to be automated.
[citation needed] If integration is applied without following a structured EAI approach, point-to-point connections grow across an organization.
Dependencies are added on an impromptu basis, resulting in a complex structure that is difficult to maintain.
[citation needed] EAI can be used for different purposes:[citation needed] This section describes common design patterns for implementing EAI, including integration, access and lifetime patterns.
[citation needed] An integration operation could be short-lived (e.g., keeping data in sync across two applications could be completed within a second) or long-lived (e.g., one of the steps could involve the EAI system interacting with a human work flow application for approval of a loan that takes hours or days to complete).
In the hub-and-spoke model, the EAI system is at the center (the hub), and interacts with the applications via the spokes.
[citation needed] Multiple technologies are used in implementing each of the components of the EAI system:[citation needed] Currently, there are many variations of thought on what constitutes the best infrastructure, component model, and standards structure for Enterprise Application Integration.
There seems to be a consensus that four components are essential for a modern enterprise application integration architecture:[citation needed] Although other approaches like connecting at the database or user-interface level have been explored, they have not been found to scale or be able to adjust.
Other EAI technologies involve using web services as part of service-oriented architecture as a means of integration.
Integration Consortium European Chairman Steve Craggs has outlined the seven main pitfalls undertaken by companies using EAI systems and explains solutions to these problems.