Survey reveals that nearly 90% of manufacturers struggle with integration issues

Cleo, a vendor of ecosystem integration software and provider of the Cleo Integration Cloud (CIC) platform used by more than 2,000 manufacturing firms, today released a survey-based report on critical integration trends affecting the U.S. manufacturing sector.

The report, “Outsmarting Market Volatility,” reveals an industry in crisis because so many companies are struggling to achieve the degree of supply chain agility and visibility needed to effectively manage today’s eCommerce-driven market disruption. Cleo’s research finds B2B integration is so broken it has become a million-dollar issue for one in five manufacturing firms.

Other findings from the survey, which drew more than 200 respondents, include:

• 99% of manufacturers had supply chain issues over the last year and a half
• 89% continue to struggle with integration issues
• 42% lost over $500,000 in 2020
• 18% lost more than $1 million in revenue in 2020
• As a result, 61% of organizations are updating their integration solutions

Literally all (100%) of manufacturing companies surveyed say they have committed to a digital transformation strategy; 99% believe digitalization can help ensure business continuity, and 70% have at least ten important integration initiatives going on.

“Challenges with onboarding new partners, insufficient business process visibility, and revenue losses due to poor integration technology are all hampering manufacturing companies today,” said Tushar Patel, chief marketing officer with Cleo. “Our latest survey of more than 200 C-level and integration experts shows that B2B integration is broken across the manufacturing supply chain, prompting companies to reevaluate their digital transformation strategy and adopt a more modern integration approach as they adjust to today’s volatile market conditions.”

According to Cleo, ecosystem integration is a modern approach to connect and integrate the core revenue producing business processes between a manufacturing company and its ecosystem entities, such as partners, customers, carriers, marketplaces, and applications. A high percentage of manufacturing leaders see clear benefits from an ecosystem integration approach, the report found, including:

• 56%—Faster order processing
• 51%—Happier customers
• 46%—Greater process automation
• 45%—Cost savings
• 40%—E-commerce enablement

“Ecosystem integration has emerged as both a business discipline and a new software category because it helps companies quickly build automated processes that can respond dynamically and intelligently to business disruptions caused by market volatility,” said Ryan Turner, an EDI Problem Solver with DCS, an integration services firm who has helped over 500 organizations transform their B2B processes.

The full survey report can be accessed here. Additionally, Cleo is offering a free, virtual conference on how to combat these challenges by leveraging ecosystem integration technology on Thursday, July 15, 2021, 11:00 a.m. – 4:00 pm Central Time (U.S.). Visit here to view the agenda and register.