Integrated Software: Uses and Advantages

A typical day in the workplace often requires employees to access various software, including databases, spreadsheets, word processors, calendars, and more. When this software is only accessible separately, it requires a lot of time and effort on the employee’s part to continually switch between them. Integrated software makes it easy for employees to access different software through a central location, saving time and money and increasing productivity for everyone on a team.

Read more about integrated software, its benefits for businesses, and what features make a good package for your business’s needs.

What is integrated software?

Integrated software is a package that combines several different applications within one program through application programming interfaces (APIs). Many integrated software packages provide a minimum of spreadsheets, word processing, and database management. However, other applications, such as email, address books, calendars, and presentation graphics, are available depending on the package. With the potential to combine business systems, software programs, and other application elements into one interface, integrated software can work on smaller, simpler and larger, complex programs. Plus, by centralizing software and systems, integrated software can liberate data to share freely across an enterprise’s entire infrastructure instead of being siloed on separate programs. 

Integrated software features

The exact features integrated software programs include depending on the type of integration purposes you’re considering. For example, an office suite used by a business-to-business (B2B) company has different features than a data-focused system used by a marketing company.

That being said, some of the common features that an integrated software can include:

• Word processing

• Spreadsheets

• Database management

• Graphic design programs

• Analytics solutions

• Email

• Calendars

• Contacts

Types of integrated software with examples

Integrated software comes in many different forms tailored to a specific business or industry’s needs. Some examples include the following:

All-in-one suites

All-in-one office suites include tools for documents, presentations, spreadsheets, and other basic office tasks, such as managing contacts and calendars. 

Examples: Microsoft 365, Apache OpenOffice, Google Workspace, Apple iWork

Analytics solutions

Analytics solutions consolidate tools to track, measure, and analyze customer data. Data that analytic solution integrated software can track ranges from customer behavior analytics to sales performance numbers, helping to inform educated business decisions. 

Examples: Google Analytics, Zoho Analytics, Microsoft Power BI, Domo  

Read more: 10 Data Analysis Tools and When to Use Them

Customer relationship management

Customer relationship management (CRM) software tracks customer interactions to help businesses maintain relationships. 

Examples: Salesforce Marketing Cloud, Square, Adobe Experience Cloud, HubSpot  

Graphic design

Graphic design programs combine tools for editing photos and designing illustrations into a single interface.

Examples: Adobe Creative Cloud, CorelDRAW Graphics Suite, Canva, Procreate 

Who uses integrated software?

With the rise of digital ecosystems and cloud technology, integrated software has become easier and more popular in B2B integration technologies. Integrated software is especially useful for businesses with different teams that need to work together and share information.

For example, a sales team might need customer management software, while the marketing team needs graphic design and word processing. Integrated software provides a wide range of tools accessible to each team while ensuring the data created by those teams is available for everyone to use at any time. This helps teams work seamlessly together and reduces the time spent manually sharing and searching for information.

Advantages of integrated software

The efficiency and intuitiveness of integrated software provide businesses with many advantages. Some of these benefits include:

Increase in productivity

Because integrated software provides a single access point for a user, it helps save time and increase productivity. Integrated software eliminates the need to duplicate data and allows users to work across multiple applications simultaneously instead of manually opening and interacting with those applications separately.

More reliable data and security

Integrated software helps data be accurate and preserved, with a minimized risk of error or incorrect formatting. Since you won’t have to continue duplicating data across platforms, you won't have to move your data into a secure database from a less secure spreadsheet. Moving your data into a secure database from a less secure spreadsheet also helps keep your company or client information from getting into the wrong hands.

Better data analysis

Centralized data is a much more effective resource for professionals to interact with and draw conclusions from. Analysts can see the collective data and draw real-time conclusions and recommendations rather than spending their time trying to combine separate data sets. Instead, integrated software provides the tools to gather, analyze, and report on company-wide data all in one place.

Better customer service

Integrated software makes it much easier for a business to track customer data, habits, and relationships within one centralized location. This helps to make any interactions with customers more valuable and efficient, which in turn increases customer retention and satisfaction.

Read more: Customer Analytics: How to Use Customer Data to Grow Your Business

More sales potential

Integrated software provides a streamlined sales process that is accessible and usable from end to end. This makes sales generally more effective and provides the chance for increased customer return rates and sales.

Disadvantages of integrated software

Integrated software tends to have two main disadvantages for users. First, integrated software packages might be confusing for large teams to implement. The complexity of the interface and variety of applications means that teams require training since some might struggle to use all the applications offered successfully. This issue is becoming less common as more integrated software packages provide better user interfaces based on cloud technology and digital ecosystems, but it’s something to keep in mind.

The second disadvantage is that integrated software packages are typically less powerful than their separate counterparts. This is because the integrated software package relies on the same memory and processing structures for all of its applications. However, integrated software packages cost much less than buying each application separately. Unless your business requires an extremely robust word processor or data analysis tool, for example, the power offered by the package tends to be sufficient for typical business operations.

Other disadvantages can include security vulnerability, as gateways between systems can create weak points and difficulty performing upgrades, as each system may need to upgrade within its system. 

How to get started in integrated software

To start a career that involves working with integrated software, you’ll want to first learn the basics about software integration through options like a bachelor’s degree or online courses covering foundational skills, such as software or computer engineering. Internships are a great way to develop the necessary knowledge as well. 

After gaining experience, you can look for entry-level job opportunities, such as software integration engineering. Software integration engineers are responsible for designing, implementing, and maintaining integration systems and processes. According to Glassdoor, software integration engineers make an average annual US salary of $140,246 [1].

Getting started on Coursera

Integrated software combines several applications, such as spreadsheets, database management, word processing, and more, into a singular product. This promotes greater productivity and data accessibility.

Explore integrated software and the basics of information technology with courses and certificates on Coursera. With options like IBM’s Introduction to Software Engineering or Princeton University’s Computer Science: Programming with a Purpose, you’ll have the opportunity to learn about the fundamentals of software and how different structures might best benefit your business’s needs.