A system integrator is an individual or business that combines hardware, software, networking, and storage products from multiple vendors to create computing systems for customers. By using a system integrator, a company can integrate cheaper, pre-configured components and off-the-shelf business software to achieve key business goals, as opposed to more expensive, customized implementations that may require original programming or the production of unique components. Slowly
Hiring a system integrator to combine different subsystems into one integrated offer can also simplify the contract and vendor management for the customer, otherwise the customer will have to purchase each subsystem separately and work with multiple vendors. Therefore, systems integration is both a procurement method and a technical activity.
What does the system integrator do?
The task of systems integration often begins with a client meeting or a series of meetings in which the system integrator assesses the customer’s business needs and defines the technical requirements for an IT system that meets those needs. . The resulting integration plan determines the basis of the integration process. This process may involve designing or building an architecture or application and integrating it with new or existing hardware, packaged or custom software, and network infrastructure.
With the advent of cloud computing, systems integrators may also play a role in integrating internal IT systems with cloud-based applications or computing infrastructures.
Systems Integrator Business Model
Today, some IT service companies still present themselves as systems integrators, but in most cases, systems integration is one of the many services that an IT service provider offers in a range of offerings.
The advent of IT outsourcing in the late 1980s and 1990s, the advent of managed services in the late 1990s, and the advent of cloud services in the 2000s led to the creation of hybrid business models. An IT services company often offers a combination of consulting, systems integration, managed services and cloud services. Systems integration has become less of a business model and more of a business line.
System integrators against VARs
Value Added Vendors (VARs) and System Integrators are overlapping categories of companies. VAR resells network products, hardware, and software, and often provides services to create IT solutions. In this capacity, the VAR acts as a system integrator. Conversely, the system integrator may act as a VAR and sell products to customers as part of a system integration project.
One of the differences is that VARs tend to focus on small and medium-sized business customers and small-scale IT systems, while systems integrators tend to engage with large corporate customers and work on large-scale projects that can Multiple customer locations or possibly multiple countries