Integration, automation, and API management didn’t just emerge as critical to a flexible, resilient, and secure IT environment with the rise of agentic transformation. But as enterprise investments in AI initiatives balloon, and the projects they fund move (hopefully) from proof-of-concept to deployed assets delivering business value, those technologies become central to how organizations compete, innovate, and grow.
In this blog, we highlight some of the insights from IDC’s recent study “Beyond Boundaries: The Role of Integration in the Next Wave of Innovation,” sponsored by Boomi. The paper outlines how companies can prepare for agentic transformation by:
- Understanding the evolving needs of stakeholders
- Addressing the pain points of legacy environments
- Crafting an AI-ready approach to connectivity.
The Stakeholders Shaping AI and Automation
AI and automation span the realms of technology, governance, and business execution. Not surprisingly, different stakeholders bring their own priorities to the table:
- Enterprise Architects must align integration and API strategies with long-term business goals.
- CIOs and IT Leaders need to balance stability with transformation.
- Business Users want no-code/low-code platforms to create automations quickly.
- IT Managers require simplified tools to execute and scale integration projects.
- Compliance and Security Leads are responsible for ensuring that new connections meet regulatory requirements and keep data safe.
Groaning Under the Weight of Technical Debt and Increased Complexity
Strong AI ambitions are not rare in the business community, especially at the enterprise level. But their realization often runs headlong into a legacy of technical debt, including:
- Fragmented architectures built reactively, not strategically
- API sprawl and “Zombie APIs” that introduce inefficiencies and risks
- Compliance blind spots caused by poor visibility across the API ecosystem
- Limited reuse and scalability as APIs designed for single use struggle to support broad AI workloads
As companies look for solutions, the growing number of integration, automation, and API management tools may seem overwhelming. While variety creates choice, it also increases complexity when enterprises try to stitch together disparate systems. Vendors rarely put integration with other systems at the top of their feature list.
Given that, does a best-of-breed approach still make sense? IDC suggests the tide is shifting toward unified platforms — solutions that consolidate integration, automation, API management, and AI orchestration.
A unified integration platform reduces duplication, lowers costs, and accelerates AI outcomes compared with a patchwork of disconnected tools.
What Would an AI-Ready Connectivity Approach Look Like?
IDC outlines five steps for moving from legacy debt to AI-ready infrastructure:
- Map the API Ecosystem: Gain full visibility into all APIs, including unmanaged and “zombies.”
- Strengthen Governance and Security: Establish lifecycle management, enforce policies, and extend compliance frameworks to AI use cases.
- Adopt Unified Platforms: Consolidate integration and automation in platforms that support diverse data formats and advanced AI use cases.
- Empower Stakeholders with Low-Code/No-Code: Enable business users and IT managers to co-create integrations at speed.
- Design for Scalability and Reuse: Build APIs and integrations that are reusable, so each new AI initiative doesn’t require starting from scratch.
Boomi: The One Platform For AI Activation
AI and automation success go hand-in-hand. They depend on a vendor-neutral layer of connective tissue that links data, systems, and people. Organizations that embrace modern integration, automation, and API management strategies can move faster, innovate more, and capture the full promise of agentic transformation.
The Boomi Enterprise Platform tackles the digital sprawl of fragmented businesses by combining integration, API management, data management, and AI agent management into a single unified platform that accelerates innovation, lowers costs, and enhances security.
For more insights, access the entire IDC study here.
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IDC White Paper | Beyond Boundaries: The Role of Integration in the Next Wave of Innovation, Doc #US53734125, August 2025