According to a new study conducted by Salesforce and Vanson Bourne, business demand for automation has risen, spanning multiple departments in an effort to accelerate efficiency and productivity due to macroeconomic uncertainty.
With macroeconomic uncertainty affecting markets, hiring, costs, and more, CEOs and leaders across the organization are focusing on efficient growth, cost savings, and increased productivity.
As a result, businesses are turning to automation to drive immediate value across all parts of the business, from technical to non-technical departments such as sales, customer service, marketing, and commerce.
Salesforce commissioned a global survey of 600 CIOs and IT decision-makers to better understand how IT is approaching these demands and some of the challenges they face.
The vast majority (91%) of respondents report that business teams’ demand for automation has increased in the last two years. More specifically, the highest demand for automation came from four departments:
The survey also reveals that existing technology stacks have an impact on the speed with which IT teams can meet business automation demands.
As systems and business requirements change, nearly all (96%) respondents stated that modifying and rebuilding automations is difficult. Furthermore, four out of five respondents said that reorganizing existing application and data landscapes to support automation would likely increase their organization‘s technical debt.
“Organizations across every industry want to automate processes and customer experiences as quickly as possible. However, if they try to go fast with the wrong tools and techniques, they’ll actually impede true innovation,” said Matt McLarty, Global Field CTO & VP of the Digital Transformation Office, MuleSoft. “It’s vital that organizations become more adaptable to technological change, enabling them to build automations and connect data and applications in a holistic manner. Without taking a more composable approach, organizations risk compounding rather than reducing their technical debt.”
Nearly half (44%) of organizations are now using integration and API management capabilities to fully support their business process automation efforts as they attempt to unlock the full potential of automation to not only fuel growth, but also create efficient growth in a faster and less disruptive manner. Another 53% said they used integration and API management capabilities “to some extent,” indicating that there is a huge opportunity to more efficiently automate workflows at scale and deliver connected customer experiences faster.
This is happening as more organizations seek to orchestrate the use of multiple technologies, tools, and platforms to automate business and IT processes as part of a hyperautomation strategy.
According to the survey, 80% will have hyperautomation on their technology roadmap within the next 24 months, which means they will require the appropriate tools and capabilities to build and modify automations.
“Organizations should never just think that once a process is automated the job is done,” said McLarty. “If we’ve learned anything through this volatile period, in fact, it is that we need a new mentality when it comes to business.”
With a new, more composable mentality, McLarty says that any organization can thrive.
“The organizations that thrive in the digital economy are the ones that adapt to changes the fastest,” continued McLarty. “For established companies, that means focusing on three things: growth with efficiency and sustainability, agility with safety at scale, and continuous innovation.”
