Managed File Transfer is a modern-day workhorse, but it is also not the entire story of how data gets from point A to point B. The data itself, contained in MFT files or otherwise, has become a critical currency today. The core value is getting data from the files and integrating it into the systems and applications that need the information through different mechanisms defined as “integration patterns.”
Integration patterns are typically technical and manual steps to manipulate the files, adding often overwhelming complexity for MFT practitioners. With a rising tide toward the cloud and cloud-enabled business platforms alongside continued talent shortages, IT teams have even less time to hand-hold and manually manage file transfers.
We need intelligent, integrated MFT more than ever before.
Is your current MFT vendor letting you down? Are you feeling overwhelmed by the complexity of technical integration? It may be time to consider a smarter MFT solution that secures, moves, manages, and simplifies file transfer integration where data is delivered in the right format – when it’s needed, where it’s needed.
Growing data complexity
Modern enterprises have significant integration needs that cover the entire gamut of integration patterns. And existing B2B processes struggle to deliver the real-time needs of the business they intend to support.
As enterprises eagerly shift towards using ready-to-consume services like data connectors and decision-making applications, they find themselves drowning in the very data that was supposed to make them more efficient.
The average number of discrete applications used by organizations is 976, and it has increased by 133 in the last 12 months alone, according to a 2022 Connectivity Benchmark Report by Deloitte Digital.
Not even a third of these are integrated.
Take a look at a typical healthcare file data ecosystem, for example.
The more apps healthcare organizations use, the more data silos they end up creating. At the same time, they need to be able to support file exchange from partners to applications and integrate it all by transferring or transforming file data.
MFT connectivity challenges include:
- End to end orchestration (transmission, routing, transformation)
- Difficulty in managing data security with several deployment types
- Increase of complexity of deployment modes
- Complexity due to customizations (scripts, code)
What is MFT to us? At Axway, we believe the most cutting-edge iterations of MFT should go beyond merely moving information. Intelligent MFT can help offset the effects of soaring data volumes and integration complexity, evolving compliance regulations, and increasing security risks.
Extend MFT connectivity with Amplify Integration
Modern problems require Modern solutions. Axway’s intelligent MFT platform, strengthened by our Amplify Integration solution, helps you provide data at the right time, right place, and right format for all your core applications.
Amplify Integration is a hybrid solution for providing no-code integration for data, applications, events, and APIs – both in-cloud and on-premises. It helps expand the reach of traditional MFT and increases coverage for different integration patterns thanks to:
Lightweight translation. Validate file integrity (schema validation) and convert file formats (CSV to XML, encoding schemes, etc.).
Context-aware routing. Route data based on file content (reading headers, counting line entries, etc.), split and merge files/messages.
Ecosystem Integration. The beauty of Amplify Integration is that existing file transfer specialists are empowered to accomplish these integrations in minutes thanks to a low/no code toolset.
And it’s not just your MFT teams that can do it.
Self-service connectivity
With a workforce that’s retiring out of the business and a dearth of new talent coming in – not to mention the explosion of file volumes – teams have less and less time to individually set up each point-to-point connection.
Typically, if a marketer in a San Francisco office needs to quickly exchange sensitive data with someone in Tokyo, they need to open a ticket and ask the IT team to set up a secure channel for them. They get added to a queue, and it takes another couple of days to get the job done.
That sort of delay is unacceptable with the current pace of business. And your IT personnel shouldn’t be put in a position where they must constantly react to incoming requests.
It’s why we offer self-service capabilities for users outside the IT department – without compromising on your security and regulatory policies.
So, what is self-service MFT?
Imagine if your MFT teams could simply preconfigure data flow and communication channel templates. They publish them internally, allowing a business user to set up their file transfer with very limited configuration effort.
This non-IT user selects their parameters, clicks “publish,” and a person on the IT side simply needs to validate and authorize the flow.
And with Amplify Integration’s pre-built connectors for enterprise apps (Salesforce, SAP S/4HANA, Workday…) and cloud services (Object stores, Pub-Sub Queues, Kafka streams, etc.), these business users can extend and integrate more file data with your existing Axway software.
Axway MFT combined with Amplify Integration offers a low-code approach for standard functions like introspecting, routing, bulking, debulking, and null file conditions. Users can visually map file-based data integrations without having to re-write your existing data flows, all from a centralized control platform.
In short, Amplify Integration can extend your existing MFT’s reach and open up your integration ecosystem for end-to-end orchestration.
Sample MFT + Amplify Integration use cases
Let’s look at some real-world examples of common MFT integration challenges.
More and more banks these days want to provide flexible options to submit payments. Are your clients currently submitting payments as files sent via Axway SecureTransport? It’s a perfectly functional process; there’s a reason Axway products process some $10 trillion daily for the largest banks in the world.
But many financial institutions now also offer alternative payment vehicles. They’re looking for more agility to improve the client experience.
With Amplify Integration + Axway MFT, you can provide your clients with an API instead. Or to take it a step further, you could get the payments directly from the client ERP, no batching necessary.
Another common issue is the need to extend beyond file transfer to treat the content of the files itself. We helped one North American bank do just this.
With Amplify Integration, they were able to validate file integrity, share that data with an event platform, then perform specific actions based on the file content within parameters the bank had set. The bank was even able to generate partner-specific files from a file containing data from multiple partners.
These features are also what make it possible to transform and parse the data in files to integrate with ERPs such as Xero, QuickBooks, or SAP.
Our end-to-end integration process from partner to backend applications and vice versa allows you to say goodbye to custom code. Out-of-the-box connectors enable easy connection to a wide range of applications, increasing time to value and reducing maintenance costs.
And a hybrid/multi-cloud deployment of control and data planes gives you a future-proof solution that goes wherever your digital transformation journey takes you.
What is intelligent MFT?
It’s a solution that gives the tools to start innovating again to teams under pressure to deliver. Efficiently secure, move, manage, and integrate your data with Axway MFT + Amplify Integration.
See how Amplify Integration can help reduce the integration burden on IT and business resources.