Benefits of using Network's search widget

Using Network widgets in your internal application instead of building a customized integration has many benefits.

	Network Widget	Customized Integration Solution
Setup	Widgets can be quickly and easily added to internal applications in the same day. Network administrators configure widgets in their Network instance; customizing the style (colors, labels, logos), choosing the data fields for filtering, and choosing a system so reference aliases can be used for field values. Network provides the code that can be generated and given to web developers to add to the internal application.	Customized integrations use Network's API to search and retrieve records. Knowledge of the data fields is required to allow for filtering records.
Authentication	Network widgets supports single-sign on authentication. Business users who have authenticated to their internal application and have a Network user account can immediately access the search widget. This provides business users with a personalized experience for search and record visibility; for example, users can set up a group of users to see only Dentists or Veterinarians. Widgets support localization, so they display the language that is defined in the Network users account. For administrators, using SSO enables you to use the Network audit logs to understand who is using the widgets	Custom integrations typically have a mapping that is one integration user to many users, which means that all users that are using the widget, are searching using one user. All of the country mappings are the same, where each user will see all of the same types of records.
Integration savings	Using the widget saves you money and resources because everything that you need for your business users is configured for you: the user interface, style and filtering options, and authentication. Development is required for creating optional custom events.	Customized integrations require development and design resources to build a user interface and use either the Network API or file-based delivery to retrieve Network data.
Access to records	Users have access to the most up-to-date records because the Network widgets uses real-time architecture to search or display records against Network and Veeva OpenData.	Custom integrations either rely on flat files (target subscription files) or the Network API to retrieve records for the search results. The Network API provides real-time data, but flat files are not up-to-date and do not contain Veeva OpenData records.
Create new capability	Editing capabilities for the widgets (add or change records) can be enabled from the widget configuration page with limited development effort.	Custom integrations require using the Network API to display the record and provide edit functionality.
Reduced maintenance costs	When Network adds data model fields and features you don't need to make updates to the widgets. Network often adds data model fields to enhance the record data. In the search widget, these fields can be used to filter the search results. The search widget configuration is automatically updated when new fields are introduced, so to add a filter field, Network administrators can quickly open the search widget and choose the field. Also, Network will continue to build additional features for the widgets. Network administrators can choose to enable features for the widget and it will have minimal impact on your web developers to update the generated code.	In custom integrations, adding new fields requires amending the code. Adding features requires resources and time for development.