Using Microsoft’s cloud-based enterprise solutions, the company How to improve interoperability and thrive in uncertainty connected multiple functional applications to gain additional Our research uncovered the best practices and common pitfalls insights. This enabled parallel, rapid transformation in multiple C-suite respondents faced on their way to high interoperability, as business areas. Employees across the organization now make well as what enabled them to compress their transformation. Here’s decisions based on a single source of trusted data, and in real time. what we learned. (Figure 3). Barriers to Interoperability Today’s business and technology landscape can make reaching high Figure 3 How to improve your interoperability interoperability a challenge. To improve interoperability and compress transformation, companies must leverage the cloud, utilize composable tech and focus on meaningful collaboration. Most large enterprises have more than 500 applications, and plan Composable Tech to buy more from multiple vendors in the next two years. The longer Build repeatable solutions that can be these organizations wait to make themselves interoperable, the more configured and reconfigured at speed difficult it becomes to retrofit interoperability on an ever-growing to address changing business needs. application stack. Other businesses—60% of respondents in our study—are held back from improving interoperability because they struggle to align their application strategy with overall business goals. Another 57% cite lack of buy-in from senior leadership; 44% lack a clear ROI or business case; and 34% believe interoperability is simply too expensive. Companies with high interoperability also face these challenges. But Cloud Collaboration they cope with obstacles by finding alignment across the business, Use cloud as the foun- Focus on empowering dation for shared data employees with new digital acting early and making difficult decisions as needed. and experiences skills, trusted collaboration and across applications. shared definition of success.