It’s the aspirational goal of every business. Connect every system in the technology landscape. That way, employees can do their jobs better. Customers have easy access to what they want. The business operates more efficiently.
Well, maybe that’s more of a dream than a goal. But when you integrate applications, the seamless flow of data enables businesses to create memorable user engagement that makes them stand out in a crowded world.
It’s the confluence of information, integration, and interactions that instantly connect everyone to everything. Everyone has what they need, wherever they are, and on whatever device they choose. Today, that ability to build Integrated Experiences is the defining line between success and failure. Just look at the companies that excel at this – like Amazon, Instacart, Uber, and Netflix. And, well, you probably have your own list of organizations that struggle with it.
“The pandemic forced businesses to transform themselves, or they found themselves in peril,” said Ed Macosky, Boomi’s head of product. “With employees working from home and people unable to come into businesses to buy things, organizations had to change the way they operate. The traditional ways of doing things, with clunky user experiences, weren’t going to work. The businesses that did it best now have a competitive edge.”
Macosky said that on the first episode of our new Integrated Experiences Podcast Series. Rob Evans, Boomi’s vice president of North America sales, interviews business leaders about what’s needed to create the experiences people now expect in our one-click, instant-gratification world.
The breezy podcasts are not a pitch for the Boomi Enterprise Platform. They are thoughtful conversations about overcoming technical challenges and how to think through your projects. We designed the episodes so you can choose the topics that particularly interest you.
We hope our series plants some seeds. Our goal is to get you thinking about different ways to make your business more successful. Here’s a quick look at each episode.
Defining Integrated Experiences
Macosky sets the stage with the problem every business faces today. As organizations add more best-of-breed applications to operate their businesses, they’re struggling to connect them. They’ve unintentionally created data silos that result in fragmented experiences that lead to frustration and jeopardize customer loyalty.
“With digital transformation, it comes down to wish fulfillment,” Macosky says. “I need data, when I need it, and how I need it. Delivering that is what we mean by Integrated Experiences.”
Data Readiness
An estimated 60 to 70 percent of data within organizations is unknown or inaccessible. It’s critical to identify, prepare, catalog, and synchronize data and make the most precious resource at every business usable.
“It’s important that the data flowing through the arteries of your IT landscape is trusted and of high quality – before it goes to all of the systems,” says Ram Menon, Boomi’s director of product management.
The discussion also features the perspective of Brian Brinley, integration lead at Qlik.
Pervasive Connectivity
Creating a fabric of connectivity doesn’t just involve integrating systems and applications. It’s about unifying all of your endpoints. Yes, that means on-premises, multi-cloud, and hybrid environments. But increasingly, it’s also all manner of IoT and edge devices in our connected world.
Catherine Yoes, software development team lead at St. Edward’s University, explains how they stayed connected with students, teachers, and staff when the campus was closed during the pandemic.
User Engagement
Traditionally, that has been a sharp divide between data management and user engagement. But with the explosion of data, that no longer works. Those distinct roles are becoming more collaborative.
Data now enables automated, responsive user-engagement experiences through websites, mobile applications, chatbots, and more.
“It’s imperative that businesses have a 360-degree view of the user by bringing together all of the assets within their ecosystems to cater to the digital experience that people are looking for today,” says Manoj Gujarathi, director of product management at Boomi.
Melissa Rainboldt of the International Justice Mission also explains how data fuels transparency by giving donors confidence in the gift-giving process.
Workforce Integrated Experiences – Next Steps
Work no longer is someplace you go. It’s what you do.
As we emerge from the pandemic, remote work is here to stay. We take a closer look at how a unified digital ecosystem can improve processes like onboarding new employees, secure access to systems, team collaboration, and more.
“Now is the time to optimize work,” Macosky says. “The workforce is changing. People are working in a more distributed nature. IT leaders need to say, ‘How can I make a difference? How can I make my employees more productive?’ It’s more than just synchronizing some data. How can you solve new problems to give your company and employees an edge?”
Customer Integrated Experiences – Next Steps
Macosky takes a deeper dive into what’s required to create great customer experiences today. He shares real-world examples of how companies from finance to healthcare to public services reinvented how they interact with people.
“I guess the best way to put it is that the bar has been raised,” Macosky says, explaining the high expectations we all have today. He also discusses how IT teams can help create the engagement people expect. Data and automation are the foundation to designing customer interactions that are smooth and put smiles on faces.