Integration and API platform and Salesforce subsidiary MuleSoft has unveiled the results of a new study showing the hurdles preventing automation.
Based on a survey of 2,400 IT and business “decision makers” worldwide, MuleSoft’s IT and Business Alignment Barometer found that over 70% of automation initiatives are being hindered by security concerns and data silos, despite automation being top of the agenda – with 95% of organisations having implemented or being in the process of implementing automation initiatives such as employee onboarding processes.
With 93% seeing automation as a means to creating better connected customer experiences, the imperative for automation has never been stronger – 87% said security and governance concerns were slowing down the pace of innovation, while the same number said security concerns were holding them back from allowing non-technical users to integrate data sources.
The answer posited by the company was closer integration between IT and business teams to eliminate silos, reduce time to market and enable faster innovation across the organisation. 87% of respondents said IT and business alignment had improved over the last 12 months – leading to a number of benefits, including improved collaboration (64%), operational efficiency (58%), and better customer experience (54%).
“IT and business alignment is no longer ‘a nice to have’ – it’s essential to meeting the urgency of today’s digital imperatives,” said Brent Hayward, CEO, MuleSoft.
“Delivering innovation fast requires reusable, secure assets the business can self-serve to quickly launch new digital experiences, products and services. As IT and business teams drive automation initiatives forward, empowering more people – developers and non-developers alike – to connect data and apps in a secure, yet frictionless way will be key to organisations’ future success.”
Accordingly, among the top priorities of businesses were:
- Improving operational efficiency (54%)
- Creating better connected customer experiences (50%)
- Improving productivity (49%)
- Becoming more agile for change (48%)
- Becoming more data-driven (45%)
The study also found that COVID-19 had created a new focus on business agility, with 78% saying business agility was extremely important to remaining competitive – up from 68% pre-pandemic.
