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84% of all integration projects failed. This is what I did to integrate unknown systems and avoided common problems.
IT projects often cost more, take a longer time, and have fewer benefits than planned. According to some studies (Forbes 2016; BCG 2020), as many as 70–84% of all digital transformation efforts ended in partial or total failure. Research has shown that large projects having a large amount of information that requires integration have a failure rate 50% higher than small projects. A McKinsey-Oxford study reported in 2012 that 17% of those large projects had gone so badly that they threatened the very existence of the organisations.
Again and again, it resonates consistently across industries and domains with fellow engineers, architects, project managers and business stakeholders, and not for good reasons.
What is system integration? Why do businesses need it?
System integration is the process of connecting multiple individual sub-systems, applications, or services, into a single larger system that functions as one unit. In recent years, IT systems have become an important competitive element in many industries. Systems and applications are getting bigger, with new functionalities developed every day, touching more parts of the organisation. System integration is becoming increasingly significant and a premier requirement for evolving the business, and improving productivity, quality, and efficiency of business operations. It poses major risks to the company if the system integration process doesn’t go as planned.
Why do integration projects fail?
Integration projects have a terrible reputation for failing. It only takes a few missteps to botch up the whole thing. Various factors may lead to failures, and the reasons I mentioned here are by no means exhaustive. Nevertheless, it is essential to understand the commonly mentioned reasons and make sure nothing stands in your way to success.
Unclear scope
It should go without saying that if your integration project doesn’t have clear, specific, and achievable goals and timelines, it will fail with the allocated budget and resources. It is easy for a company to start an…
