The Connected Business,
by the Numbers
Highlights of a Dell Boomi survey on the challenges,
opportunities and benefits of integration
2 | The Connected Business, by the Numbers
Table of Contents
3 | The Connected Business Journey
4 | Poor Integration Is Limiting Business Growth
5 | Lost Efficiency Is Draining Time and Money
6 | Organizations Are Missing Out on Business Opportunities
7 | The State of Integration Today
8 | iPaaS Is Rapidly Becoming the Top Integration Technology
9 | Business Connectivity Levels Are Soaring
10 | Organizations Reaping Big Savings With Integration
11 | iPaaS Makes Organizations Smarter, Faster, Better
12 | Beyond Integration: Master Data Management
13 | Challenges With API Lifecycle Management
14 | The Low-Code Approach to Rapid Connectivity
15 | Improved Productivity Is the #1 Benefit of a Connected Business
16 | Connectivity Drives Multimillion-Dollar Revenue Growth
17 | Boomi and the Connected Business
3 | The Connected Business, by the Numbers
The Connected Business Journey
It's a given that organizations want to become more connected to
their customers, partners and employees, throughout diverse application
landscapes, and across business processes. Greater connectivity is a top
priority in multiple industries, but where are organizations today on their
journey to becoming a connected business?
To find out, Dell Boomi commissioned Vanson Bourne, a leading research
firm, to survey 900 IT decision-makers on the challenges, opportunities and
benefits of connected business transformation. This global study, spanning
13 countries, provides valuable insights on the role of integration and other
technologies in becoming a connected business.
This ebook presents highlights from the "The Connected Business" survey.
For the full report, download "The Connected Business: Improving
integration and creating connectivity in 2018."
4 | The Connected Business, by the Numbers
Poor Integration Is Limiting
Business Growth
Technological disruption and the hyper pace of 21st century
business demand speed and agility. Organizations want to
quickly deploy new cloud applications to run more efficiently and
profitably. They want to enter new markets, deepen customer
relationships and launch new products and services. In short,
they're striving for growth.
Yet integration is a roadblock. Legacy on-premise integration
and hand coding are too slow and costly to keep pace with
modern demands. Over half (52%) of respondents feel that
poor integration is holding their business back from fulfilling
objectives. Another 89% report drawbacks because their
integration tools aren't up to the task.
have experienced
business drawbacks
because of poor
integration
89%
5 | The Connected Business, by the Numbers
Lost Efficiency Is
Draining Time and Money
Efficiency is the hallmark of many successful businesses. An efficient
business runs fast and lean across all processes, from customer onboarding
to order-to-cash cycles. High visibility helps avoid needless overhead in
staff, inventory and IT infrastructure.
Yet for 41% of organizations, poor integration results in lost efficiencies
that costs them money. Poor workflow is a particular culprit, cited by 36%.
Both factors contribute to delays in the rollout of new products, cited by
35%. It amounts to a huge disadvantage when trying to keep pace with
more nimble rivals.
say that poor
integration is costing
them money in lost
efficiency
41%
6 | The Connected Business, by the Numbers
Organizations Are Missing Out on
Business Opportunities
Cloud, mobile, social and the Internet of Things technologies have opened
abundant opportunities for business innovation and growth. Whether aimed
at products, customers, partners or the internal workforce, organizations
have the chance to unleash disruption across industries.
Yet many lack the fast, flexible integration needed to capitalize on those
opportunities. Almost two-thirds (64%) report that poor integration has
caused them to miss opportunities within the past year. Another 11% fear
they're missing opportunities and don't realize it. Those high "opportunity
costs" can penalize a business for years to come.
have missed
opportunities in the
past 12 months
because of poor
integration
64%
7 | The Connected Business, by the Numbers
The State of Integration Today
Organizations have long recognized the value of integration. Legacy
enterprise service bus (ESB) and extract, transform and load (ETL) tools have
been used for decades. And many businesses rely on in-house developers
or third-party consultants to custom code connections on an as-needed
basis, usually at substantial expense.
More than half (53%) of the survey respondents have an integration solution in
place, such as on-premise software, a custom tool or application-specific data
import technology. On average, organizations use three different integration
technologies. That's often necessary because of the limitations of certain
tools, but it means additional development skills are needed.
of organizations
have an integration
solution in place
53%
8 | The Connected Business, by the Numbers
iPaaS Is Rapidly Becoming the
Top Integration Technology
Numerous market research studies by independent analysts have found that
integration platform as a service (iPaaS) is by far the fastest-growing sector
of the integration market. That's corroborated in our survey, which finds that
95% of organizations that now use an integration solution will have cloud-
based iPaaS deployed within 12 months.
Breaking it down, 44% of those using an integration solution already have
iPaaS in place. Another 40% are in the process of iPaaS deployment, and
11% plan to adopt iPaaS within a year. Because iPaaS makes possible fast,
straightforward integration, it's also being adopted by organizations that
have to date not utilized an integration solution.
of organizations with
an integration solution
will use iPaaS within
12 months
95%
9 | The Connected Business, by the Numbers
Business Connectivity
Levels Are Soaring
IT and business leaders clearly have greater connectivity as a top objective
on their near-term agendas. Nearly eight in 10 (79%) say striving to be more
connected should be the number one priority for their organizations. This is a
significant increase in the importance of business connectivity.
In 2014 the level of organizational connectivity was at 37%, according to our
respondents. It has leapt to 59% today as organizations increasingly focus
on connecting new cloud applications and legacy systems. Organizational
connectivity is on track to reach 67% within a year, and 76% within three
years more than doubling from 2014.
of businesss say
striving to be more
connected should
be the number one
priority for their
organizations
79%
10 | The Connected Business, by the Numbers
Organizations Reaping Big
Savings With Integration
IT departments are constantly struggling to do more with less. The
inefficiencies of manual integration impose a time and cost burden not just
when establishing connectivity, but maintaining and adapting it over the
years. Custom code is often poorly documented, so a new developer tasked
with maintenance has to start from scratch.
An integration solution dramatically reduces costs. Our respondents
reported an average savings of $2.7 million since implementing an
integration solution, with a high of $4 million in the financial services industry.
Those savings are seen in IT and other departments as the organization
transitions to a faster, more connected business.
average savings by
using an integration
solution
$2.7MILLION
11 | The Connected Business, by the Numbers
iPaaS Makes Organizations
Smarter, Faster, Better
Smarter, faster, better those are key ingredients for business performance
and profitability in our digital world. Such characteristics are found in
organizations that are capitalizing on seamless data and application
integration to drive digital transformation and build connected business.
Three-quarters (75%) of companies using iPaaS say it has made their
organizations smarter, while 73% cited "faster" and 57% said "better."
Among all our respondents, 99% see benefits to becoming a more
connected business. iPaaS is clearly an enabling technology for growth and
competitive advantage.
say iPaaS has made
their organizations
smarter
75%
12 | The Connected Business, by the Numbers
Beyond Integration:
Master Data Management
Master data management, or MDM, is an important capability in the
connected business toolbox. MDM ensures data consistency across
disparate applications through synchronization so that an organization has
a single version of the truth. For example, it ensures that records match in a
financial management and CRM application.
More than half (57%) say that MDM could help them increase data accuracy
and consistency. Another 54% envision more effective data analysis, and
50% say MDM would increase data usability. Though MDM is not as widely
used as integration technology, maintaining data quality and synchronization
across applications is an essential element of a connected business.
say MDM would
increase data accuracy
and consistency
57%
13 | The Connected Business, by the Numbers
Challenges With
API Lifecycle Management
Application programming interfaces, or APIs, provide points of integration
that organizations can use to connect systems and launch innovations, such
as mobile apps or smart device applications. Utilizing APIs is instrumental in
digital transformation, but organizations face significant challenges in how
they create, publish and manage APIs.
About two in five (38%) of organizations report difficulties controlling
each API's lifecycle. And 36% report difficulties in rapidly creating and
publishing an endpoint as an API. More than 35% have issues managing
and monitoring web services in a single environment. Those with the tools to
manage APIs have a jumpstart in becoming a connected business.
find it challenging to
control each API's
lifecycle
38%
14 | The Connected Business, by the Numbers
The Low-Code
Approach to Rapid Connectivity
Low-code application development has become de rigueur for organizations
that want to minimize the time and cost of innovation. It means that IT teams
don't have to heavily invest resources into projects, because a platform's
prebuilt functionality addresses many of the tough technical challenges.
More than 40% of organizations today use low-code solutions.
Survey respondents citied ease of application maintenance as the most
important benefit of low-code integration development. Low-code
directly reduces overhead for ongoing IT support. Respondents also cited
better developer collaboration (47%) and faster time to market (45%).
Fundamentally, low code liberates developers from routine chores to focus
on innovations that build a connected business.
say ease of application
maintenance is the
top benefit of a low-
code platform
50%
15 | The Connected Business, by the Numbers
Improved Productivity Is the #1
Benefit of a Connected Business
Productivity is recognized as a catalyst for business success, yet workforce
underperformance has long been tolerated as a fact of life. Poor productivity
is hard to avoid when employees have to waste time accessing, copying,
pasting and manipulating information from a sprawl of disconnected
applications.
More than two-thirds of survey respondents (67%) cite improved productivity
as the #1 benefit of becoming a more connected business, as it reduces
cost and accelerates internal and customer-facing processes. Better data
accessibility (61%) and more efficient workflows (53%) are also high on the
list as is increased profitability, cited by 47%.
say improved
productivity is the top
benefit to becoming a
connected business
67%
16 | The Connected Business, by the Numbers
Connectivity Drives Multimillion
Dollar Revenue Growth
Becoming a connected business translates directly into revenue.
Organizations gain new ability to attract and retain customers when
integration makes possible a seamless customer experience. They can more
rapidly introduce new products and services, and they have greater flexibility
to expand into new markets and geographies.
Nearly nine in 10 (86%) of businesses surveyed see revenue growth as
an outcome of becoming a more connected business. On average, our
respondents expect revenue to jump 10% within a year of becoming a
connected business. That translates into an average of $491 million among
our respondents, which included a sizable number of large enterprises.
annual revenue growth
forecast as a result
of becoming a more
connected business
+10%
17 | The Connected Business, by the Numbers
Boomi and
the Connected Business
Boomi provides an intelligent data platform to drive the connected business.
Our cloud-native, unified iPaaS helps organizations connect everything
together people, processes, applications, data and things so the
business can engage everywhere, across any channel, device or platform.
Trusted by more than 7,000 organizations, Boomi provides the foundation on
which your business can innovate. Our low-code platform solves the hard
technical challenges, so that you can focus on the things that drive your
business success. Boomi's core capabilities include:
INTEGRATE | Application and Data Integration
Connect all your applications and data sources across your hybrid IT
landscape, to unlock data silos and achieve pervasive integration.
HUB | Master Data Hub
Synchronize and enrich your data through a data hub, so the organization
has trusted data to make business decisions.
EXCHANGE | B2B/EDI Management
Achieve interoperability between your internal systems and your ecosystem
of trading partners to extend the reach of your business operations.
MEDIATE | API Design and Management
Modernize and expose underlying data as APIs to deliver scalable and
secure real-time interactions for the new world of applications.
FLOW | Workflow Automation and App Development
Automate workflows on any channel, device or platform to create new
experiences for customers, partners or employees.
To learn more, contact a Boomi expert today!