What Is iPaaS?

An iPaaS is delivered as a cloud computing service. Each integration flow connects applications, for example by moving an order from the store to the ERP.

Essential features proposed for iPaaS by one marketing company include:

• Cloud delivery. It runs on multi-tenant, elastic cloud infrastructure.
• Subscription pricing. It is paid as an operating expense, not a capital purchase.
• Ready connectors. No software development, because the required connectors should already be available.
• No platform upkeep. Users don't deploy or manage the platform itself.
• Monitoring. It includes integration management and monitoring features.

A hybrid type of iPaaS that connects cloud to on-premises systems is becoming increasingly popular.

An enterprise service bus (ESB) implements a communication system between interacting software applications, and its primary use is enterprise application integration. It is implemented in software that operates between the business applications. When it receives a message, it routes the message to the right application. Because that application often evolved without the same message model, the ESB often has to transform the message into a format the application can interpret. No global standards exist for ESB concepts or implementations.

Before cloud computing emerged in the early 2000s, internal integration ran on an on-premises middleware platform that typically used a service bus. B2B integration ran through EDI gateways or value-added networks (VANs). Under the iPaaS model, customers build and deploy integrations without installing or managing any hardware or middleware, and without a big investment in skills or licensed middleware software. Many such services can now also integrate legacy or on-premises applications and act as EDI gateways.

A distributor sells on a B2B store and runs an on-premises ERP. An iPaaS flow handles one order like this:

• Order. The store records a new order with 3 lines and a net 30 term.
• Map. The flow picks up the order and maps each field to the ERP's sales order format.
• Create. The ERP creates the sales order, and the warehouse later ships it.
• Return. A second flow sends the shipment and tracking number back to the store.

Your team or your integrator configures and monitors these flows on the platform.

Shopify lets you integrate ERP, accounting and other business systems with a B2B store, and build your own integrations with its B2B APIs. Apps can subscribe to Shopify webhook topics to receive near-real-time data about events on a shop. Shopify describes webhooks as a performant alternative to continuously polling for changes. Shopify also lists third-party B2B apps among its B2B features. In general practice, an ERP connection can be an app, a custom build on the B2B APIs, or a flow on an integration platform.

Uncap Connect is an embedded Shopify app that lives inside the Shopify admin, where your team already works. For teams whose environment calls for connector-based middleware instead of an embedded app, Uncap builds, configures and supports the iPaaS integration. Compare both models on our integrations page.

• Middleware
• Webhook
• ERP integration
• EDI
• System of record

• Cloud-based integration (Wikipedia)
• Platform as a service, NIST SP 800-145 (NIST CSRC glossary)
• B2B features on Shopify (Shopify Help Center)