Making connections. Integration is the creation of links between previously separate computer systems, applications, services or processes. The word is normally used in the context of computing, but can apply to business processes as much as to the underlying process automation. In the past, computer integration -- for example in enterprise application integraation (EAI) -- has typically been tightly coupled, or "hardwired", making it difficult to modify in response to changing requirements. Thanks to the advent of web services and the evolution of service-oriented architectures, more agile, loosely coupled forms of integration are now starting to emerge.