Australian companies are facing integration challenges: Adobe head of digital

Australian companies may be more digitally advanced than compared to others around the world but they are still facing some challenges when it comes to integrating their technology systems.

Adobe’s 2022 Digital Trends report, found that Australian and New Zealand markets are more digitally advanced with one in three stating simplifying their tech stack is a priority. However, poor integration between tech systems is holding marketing/CX back, with 48 percent.

At the Adobe Summit, Scott Rigby, chief technology advisor, and principal product manager at Adobe told Digital Nation that when Australian companies invested in best-of-breed technology ten years ago issues arose as having multiple platforms from multiple vendors wasn’t working.

“It becomes very hard to duct tape and elastic band this [technology] behind the scenes. Fifty-one percent of ANZ businesses said that they are having an integration challenge,” he said.

While there have been some leaders in Australia in terms of technology adoption such as the big four banks, Qantas, Virgin Australia and Telstra, everyone else has been a laggard, Rigby said.

He uses the B2B as an example, “The pressure came from pandemic to change how they sell and the channels in which they sell through and be able to digitise that, they were late to the party.”

Rigby said he has seen a massive influx of businesses make these technology investments to survive in the market and ensure continuity of business.

“We’ve had some leaders that have helped pilot the way and show the benefits of these investments beforehand. Adding the pandemic on top of that has dragged a huge number of businesses into the digital CX world,” he said.

What this means going forward according to Rigby, is that these Australian businesses will continue to be the leaders in their fields globally but the gap between the leaders and the laggards will get bigger.  

“This is the 11th year we've been doing this research and year on year the gaps across several different metrics have grown. Effectively the leaders are continuing to do better than in the mainstream, as well as the laggards so the gap is getting,” he said.

“Those that are made late investments are getting left behind whether you consider yourself to be mean mainstream, or consider yourself a laggard.”