By Boomi
Today, customers are demanding more of you. There’s truly a new normal in the world. Amid the historical uncertainty, customers, employees, and users in general want more than just your “best effort” in terms of how you interact with them. They’re counting on something much more seamless and rewarding. They expect to be instantly connected to what they want.
They expect an Integrated Experience.
When organizations used to think about integration, it was about connecting data and processes from systems and databases, and getting your IT landscape to work cohesively. Unfortunately, that’s the old game. Whether it’s integration platform as a service (iPaaS), where we have our foundation, or API management, it’s simply no longer enough to think that integration alone will suffice for customers who demand greater interaction and engagement.
That old game resulted in a very fragmented experience. That’s because you were just presenting a siloed point of view to your constituents, customers, or employees. Each division or department had its own data set and view of the customer. And that customer record didn’t propagate across to other divisions that also has a relationship with the customer. In the end, the customer likely would be asked to provide their information multiple times, creating frustration and impacting loyalty.
People expect better.
It’s why smart organizations are all-in on delivering Integrated Experiences. They’re creating a seamless, friction-free experience by instantly connecting customers or users to what they want.
They are in the business of wish fulfillment. And they’re powering that experience with data across all of their systems.
Let me give you a few examples of Integrated Experiences that will sound familiar.
- I wish I had a driver right here, right now, to take me home.
- I want all of my favorite music with me at all times, and I want some new recommendations.
- My pharmacy just sent me a text message reminding me that I need a flu shot, suggested an appointment time, and prepared all of my paperwork.
These experiences are integrated. They’re personal to you, the user. They make your life easier. And you don’t give them a second thought.
But the opposite is true as well. Some businesses make it hard to get what you want. Intentional or not, they create frustration, not delight. These organizations are in peril. They’re in trouble because customers no longer tolerate those fragmented experiences that add annoyance to their lives.
The reality, however, is that building Integrated Experiences is really hard. The behind-the-scenes challenges are incredibly complex. One technology solution alone can’t solve a human-driven problem.
Data is often all over the place. And just the sheer diversity of data in your enterprise makes discovering and preparing it very difficult. There are shadow systems, perhaps as a result of M&A activity, that have created multiple IT landscapes within your ecosystem. And, the application development side is often considered a completely different skill-set. So, the people I need to find and prepare my data, and connect my applications, are different from those who build my mobile application.
The result is, at the very least, swivel chair management for your staff. But even worse, it could create that frustrating, disjointed experience for your user.
In many cases, it’s not your fault. Some legacy technologies that operated in integration, data management, and low-code application development silos themselves weren’t designed to create Integrated Experiences. And many of those legacy tools are slow, overly complicated, and costly.
We can confidently say this because we have our roots in cloud-based iPaaS with a mission of delivering agility, speed, and flexibility. In fact, we invented the space. Others contend that API is the solution. But the reality is, Integrated Experiences require more than just iPaaS or APIs. We believe three pillars must be in place for you to build a truly integrated experience for your customers.
First and foremost, you need data readiness. You must be able to find, connect, and aggregate quality-assured data from almost an infinite number of sources, including cloud applications databases and shadow systems. Across your enterprise, you need pervasive connectivity. You require technology that will connect not only to systems apps and databases, but also devices, processes, and your people. The third component required to deliver Integrated Experiences is user engagement. You need a mobile application, web presence, a portal, a chatbot, a way in which you can engage your end users wherever they are, on whatever device they choose. You also need to communicate with your partners via API, so they can consume those Integrated Experiences and support your efforts.
You need all of that because that’s what people expect. And it’s all available on the Boomi AtomSphere Platform today.
For your customers, Boomi helps you deliver the Integrated Experience they crave. For your organization, Boomi makes you more agile and faster than ever. The Boomi AtomSphere Platform enables you to move with extraordinary speed, reducing time to value for going from idea to production in the shortest possible time.
That agility is changing the game for our customers. And because the Boomi AtomSphere Platform is unified, you can start your Integrated Experience journey with any of the pillars. Begin with connectivity and then add the front-end user engagement element. Start with understanding all of your data, and then connect your systems. It’s flexible to support wherever you are on your journey.
We have so many amazing examples of the real-world benefits people see as a result of Integrated Experiences. Yes, organizations are enabling new levels of customer self-service that improves loyalty and saves money. But customers also are helping change lives in these difficult times. They’re connecting cancer patients with much-needed transportation to appointments for treatment in the most effortless way possible. Government offices are transforming in just days – not months – so that their citizens can access healthcare amid a pandemic. When organizations are committed to creating Integrated Experiences, remarkable things can happen.
Boomi is the single platform delivering those Integrated Experiences – fast.
So, I’ll leave you with a question. What are your biggest challenges in building Integrated Experiences? How can we help you instantly connect users to what they want?
Learn more about Integrated Experiences and how Boomi can help you deliver them.