Automation projects held back by security and data concerns

A new report shows that 70 percent of automation initiatives are being hindered by security concerns and data silos, as organizations increasingly look to automation to improve efficiency and productivity.

The IT and Business Alignment Barometer from MuleSoft does offer some hope though as it shows companies can overcome these challenges and enable faster innovation across their organizations if IT and business teams work closely together.

The report, based on a global study of 2,400 IT and business decision makers, reveals that 87 percent of respondents say IT and business alignment has improved over the last 12 months leading to a number of benefits, including improved collaboration (64 percent), operational efficiency (58 percent), and better customer experience (54 percent).

"IT and business alignment is no longer 'a nice to have' -- it's essential to meeting the urgency of today's digital imperatives," says Brent Hayward, CEO of MuleSoft. "Delivering innovation fast requires reusable, secure assets the business can self-serve to quickly launch new digital experiences, products and services. As IT and business teams drive automation initiatives forward, empowering more people -- developers and non-developers alike -- to connect data and apps in a secure, yet frictionless way will be key to organizations' future success."

The top five priorities for introducing automation are quoted as: improving operational efficiency (54 percent), creating better connected customer experiences (50 percent), improving productivity (49 percent), becoming more agile for change (48 percent), and becoming more data-driven (45 percent).

Security remains the major issue, however, with 87 percent of IT and business leaders saying that security and governance concerns are slowing down the pace of innovation. 73 percent of organizations say the integration of disparate systems has increased their concerns around data security and governance and 31 percent say it has 'significantly' increased concerns. Most, 87 percent, admit that security concerns are holding them back at least to some degree from empowering non-technical users to integrate data sources.

The value of IT to the business is increasingly recognized though, 88 percent of business and IT leaders agree that IT has become even more important in driving business outcomes in the last 12 months. While nearly half (48 percent) say it has become 'significantly' more important. 87 percent of business leaders feel that improved integration will help them meet their business objectives.

The full report is available from the MuleSoft site.

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