Interoperability: Value untangled
Accelerating radical growth through interoperability
10-MINUTE READ
In brief
- A high level of interoperability—when enterprise applications work together—creates long-lasting value, accelerating growth and transformation.
- Companies with high interoperability grew revenue 6X faster than their peers with low interoperability.
- Interoperability reduces time spent toggling between applications, which can free up nearly two hours of employees’ workdays.
- For high interoperability, leverage the cloud, utilize composable tech and focus on meaningful collaboration.
Agility in uncertain times
In an unpredictable world, the ability to quickly adapt to new circumstances, adopt new technologies and otherwise remain nimble allows companies to thrive. With the integration of these technologies, people and processes, they can untangle value from chaos and accelerate growth.
Our new global research found that in the last two years alone, one in two companies have had to transform multiple parts of their business at the same time or execute a single large transformation much faster than ever before. We call this compressed transformation.
Interoperability: the great unifier
So how do these companies achieve compressed transformation? They lean on the agility of high interoperability. In fact, companies with high interoperability are 11% more likely to sustain compressed transformations.
Interoperability Defined:
Interoperability is when enterprise applications can easily interact with each other and exchange data. A seamless user experience across applications creates a single source of data truth that aligns everyone to common goals, leading to better decision making, human connections and insight generation.
Interoperability integrates everything—from business applications to critical IT systems— turning tangled inputs into a single source of data truth. This leaves organizations better equipped to pivot quickly to take advantage of new opportunities.
And with agility comes growth: Companies with high interoperability grew revenue 6X faster than their peers with low interoperability and are set to unlock an additional five percentage points in annual revenue growth.
That’s not all. We found that companies with high interoperability are also more efficient, successful at customer experience, productive and sustainable.
Interoperability accelerates growth
Value from interoperability
At its core, interoperability connects technology, people and processes. This inherent synergy improves the following value drivers:
Interoperability unites data silos, allowing for greater data visibility throughout the enterprise and better decision making.
Interoperability better manages dependencies, providing the agility to transform multiple business functions fast and at the same time. It improves enablement of the right IT infrastructure needed for successful transformations by 13 percentage points.
Interoperability eliminates the chance that multiple people work on the same task and streamlines data sharing. It also reduces the time spent toggling between applications, something that can account for nearly two hours of every employee’s workday.
Interoperability enables holistic, real-time access to customer data stored across systems, which allows a laser focus on customer needs. Highly interoperable companies are 15% more likely to be able to improve customer experience (CX) when it’s a priority.
Interoperability creates in-context connections, ensuring that cutting-edge innovation reaches across the business faster—which increases the ROI by 7%.
Interoperability is now in reach
The concept of interoperability isn’t new, but the ability to manifest it is. This is due to three technology changes that are making it easier for organizations to configure and reconfigure applications as needed without overhauling their digital core: ubiquitous cloud, improved application design and low-cost applications.
Our research finds that only one in three companies is capitalizing on these changes to untangle the value trapped within their organization—and they are racing past their competitors.
In Depth
GN Group hits play on enterprise interoperability
GN Group, a global audio solution manufacturer, understands the value of high interoperability
Sales had jumped 82% in the first quarter of 2021, on the heels of a 42% rise in 2020 when COVID-19 influenced millions to buy headsets for remote school and work. Company leaders knew this need would only grow with fast-changing consumer behavior—and that GN Group’s people and technology would play a critical role in meeting the demand.
GN group used Microsoft’s cloud-based enterprise platform to integrate multiple functional applications—like supply chain operations and finance—to gain additional insights. Employees across the organization now make decisions based on a single source of trusted data, and in real time.
Note: GN Group future-proofs its fast-growing operations with Microsoft Dynamics 365
What’s the long-term value of interoperability?
An additional five percentage points of annual revenue growth is a significant long-term advantage: If two similar companies start with $10 billion in revenue today, the company with high interoperability would stand to make $8 billion more over the next five years.
Better yet, interoperability won’t break the bank. Our research shows that leading companies are able to achieve high interoperability with just 2-4% higher IT and functional budgets directed at applications.