Integration

Integration is the act of bringing together smaller components into a single system that functions as one.

In an IT context, integration refers to the end result of a process that aims to stitch together different, often disparate, subsystems so that the data contained in each becomes part of a larger, more comprehensive system that, ideally, quickly and easily shares data when needed. This often requires that companies build a customized architecture or structure of applications to combine new or existing hardware, software and other communications.