Integrations are the connective tissue of the modern enterprise. When they work, no one notices. When they don't, everything falls apart.
In this episode of Trust Us, hosts Jocelyn Biltgen and Taylor Becht sit down with Mario Hightower, Principal Architect at Infoverity, who brings 20 years of experience in enterprise data and integration strategy — and a hard-won, practitioner's view of why these projects go sideways.
Mario clears up the common misconceptions (no, integration isn't just APIs, and no, real-time isn't always better), explains why most failures are data and process problems disguised as technology issues, and walks through the first decisions that actually determine whether a design scales: source of truth, ownership, coupling, and integration pattern.
He also covers what overly complex design looks like in practice, why versioning should be treated like a production release, and where AI will — and won't — change the work. His closing point sets the tone for the whole conversation: a great integration architect isn't connecting systems, they're enabling the business to move faster, change safely, and scale confidently.
A practical listen for architects, project managers, and any leader wondering why their systems still don't talk to each other.