State of Business Technology
A New Role: Business Technology
The proliferation of SaaS applications in use at organizations and the need for IT to have a business impact has led to the emergence of a new kind of business role, interchangeably known as Business Technology, Applications, or Systems.
The role is on the rise. Based on an analysis of LinkedIn, there were over 5 million people performing a Business Technology role in 2019. Based on the growth in job openings for the role over the past year, it is estimated that by 2022 there will be over 15 million people working on a Business Systems Team.
Industry Standard Organization Structure
What's in this Report?
Methodology
Satisfaction with Integration and Automation Goals
Desired Automations for Business Technology Leaders
Common Automations Currently in Place
Platforms Being Used for Integration and Automation
Backlogs
Trust and Appreciation by Lines of Business
Job Frustrations for Business Technology Leaders
The Top Challenges to Getting Things Done
Business Technology Leaders are the Changemakers of their org
Key Takeaways
Methodology
This report presents the findings of the Workato 2020 Business Technology Survey. The survey was conducted to research the relationship between Business Technology and other teams in organizations across a range of industries in the United States today.
How Was the Research Conducted?
According to the responses, those Business Technology Leaders surveyed are currently managing the following application landscape. They were encouraged to pick all that apply:
Business Technology Survey Most Commonly Managed Apps
Over half of our Business Technology respondents reported managing Salesforce or another CRM and Collaboration Apps (Slack, MS Teams, Gmail etc.). The least managed apps by this group were ServiceNow and Anaplan.
Lines of Business Survey Respondents by Department
The LOB respondents are currently working in this app landscape:
Reporting Lines
Over half of Business Technology respondents said they “evaluate and roll out applications across the company.” In total, half the sample reported evaluating 3–5 apps per quarter.
This supports the idea that Business Technology leaders are leaving more traditional IT jobs behind to focus on the org’s technology ecosystem and enabling lines of business.
How many apps do you evaluate per quarter?
Less than 3 per quarter
3 to 5
per quarter
6 to 10
per quarter
More than 10
per quarter
Emerging 100–199
High Growth 200–3,000
Growth 3,000–10,000
Mature 10,000+
40%
17%
24%
33%
50%
50%
47%
56%
10%
22%
24%
0%
0%
11%
6%
11%
Apps evaluated per quarter by company size
What does the Business Technology role entail?
Reporting lines for Business Technology can vary. For this survey’s respondents, it is most common for Business Technology to report to the CIO as part of the IT department.
Who Business Technology Leaders Report to by Company Size
As company size increases, we see a significant jump in the number of BT leaders reporting directly to VP of HR, from 0% at emerging companies to 5% at high growth and 22% at mature companies.
This suggests that the importance of HR processes grows as the company size increases and therefore warrants building out business systems teams that specifically focus on employee experience.
Satisfaction with Integration
and Automation Goals
71% of respondents at emerging, high growth, and growth companies said Integration and workflow automations are high priority, while 100% of respondents who worked at mature enterprises (10,000+ employees) said it was “somewhat a priority.”
However, only 38% of all respondents report being “very satisfied” with the integrations and workflow automations that are in place across their business, and nearly a quarter report being either dissatisfied or very dissatisfied with the integrations and workflow automations in place.
Image courtesy of Venkat Ranga, Head of Business Information Systems, Aryaka
“Hire to retire” procedures for employee on-boarding and off-boarding are the most desired automations by Business Technology respondents, with 31% responding that they want to automate it. Polling was close between “hire to retire” at 31% and Helpdesk / ITSM automation at 29%. Only 37% of respondents report that “hire to retire” workflows have already been automated at their company.
Most Desired Automations by Business Technology
Both Business Technology leaders and the Lines of Business they serve seem to be aligned on the importance of Employee Onboarding and Offboarding workflows. There are large discrepancies, however elsewhere. While LOBs list Approval Workflows as their most desired automation, BT rated it in the bottom three. Procure to Pay is among the lowest desired automations for LOB but in the top 3 for BT.
Are Business Technology and Line of Business Desires Aligning?
Business Technology leaders cite Approval workflows as the most common workflow automations in place, with 54% of Systems respondents reporting that approval workflows have already been automated at their organization.
There may be more work to do here, as indicated by the Lines of Business in the previous section where they listed Approval workflows as their most desired automation.
Q: What processes have been automated at your current organization?
50% of BT leaders report using integration products that require specialized or technical expertise and 50% report using integration products that are modern and can be used by a wide range of people.
But while there is an even split in usage, there is a huge gap in satisfaction.
Of those who report using technical tools only 7% are very satisfied.
Q: How satisfied are you with your integration platform that requires specialized or technical expertise?
For the half using modern tools, 36% are very satisfied and 64% are somewhat satisfied with 0% reporting they are dissatisfied.
Q: How satisfied are you with your integration platform that is modern and can be used by a wide range of people?
Respondents who were experiencing backlogs with their integrations and automations said that they account for 42% of the total number of backlogs.
Finance automations were the most significant culprit with 71% saying it contributes to their backlog. Automations for Sales were the second most significant cause of backlog, at 64% with HR automations taking 3rd at 43%.
Only 18% of Business Technology leaders feel “very appreciated” by lines of business.
Of the lines of business, Finance, Support, IT, and HR were the departments that BT leaders feel have trust in them. They feel the least trust from the product team.
When the Lines of Business were surveyed, trust overall was fairly high with 52% strongly agreeing and 36% somewhat agreeing with the statement: “I trust the people in my company to effectively create and manage automation processes.”
However, when broken down by department, Marketing displayed the most trust and Support displayed the least. This may be due to the fact that Marketing teams often have their own MarketingOps person that they entrust with creating and managing automation processes. This MarketingOps person sits within Marketing, not the centralized BT team.
Business Technology respondents’ main frustration is the speed with which they are able to deliver to lines of business (HR, Sales, IT, etc.), with 62% of respondents citing this as a frustration. An additional 40% say that they’re frustrated with how much they have to say "no" to their stakeholders, and 40% are frustrated with their current integration / automation tool.
Type of Integration and Automation Tool Currently in Use
The top challenges to getting things done include time to use existing tools, putting out fires, and lack of specialized resources. 9% of respondents also chose “other,” writing in responses like: “lack of freedom to work on meaningful projects like automation,” “lack of iPaaS,” “lack of prioritization,” and “security approval capacity.”
94% of Business Technology respondents agree or strongly agree that Business Technology Teams are the changemakers and drivers of an organization’s productivity and innovation.
With a centralized view of the company’s systems and a focus on enabling business goals, Business Technology teams are a new type of IT team. One that is poised to make sweeping company-wide changes that can drive transformation forward.
Table of Contents
Business Technology Leaders are moving away from traditional IT jobs, like provisioning hardware and answering IT questions for the org.
The most commonly reported job functions of Business Technology respondents were “lead and build teams to support business teams” (69%), and “working with lines of business on automation” (60%).
The lowest reported job function was “provisioning computers and other equipment for employees” and the company with only 23% selecting it. The second lowest was “Answer all the IT questions for the organization” at 32%.
Q: Which of the following best describes your job function responsibilities?
Automation is a high priority but only about a third are satisfied with the integrations and automations that are in place across their business.
Employee Onboarding and Offboarding is universally acknowledged as important
82% of Business Technology respondents are backlogged with their application integrations and workflow automations.
Q: Which automations for the following lines of business are contributing to your backlog?
Q: How appreciated do you feel by the lines of business in your company?
Q: Which of the following lines of business (LOBs) in your company do you believe trust you and/or your business services team?
Q: To what extent do you agree or disagree with the following statement? "I trust the people in my company to effectively create and manage automation processes."
Q: Which frustrations, if any, do you have in your role?
Are you a Business Technology leader? Request to join our exclusive community of systems professionals.
Join the Business Systems Community
Respondents by Company Size
Q: Which, if any, of the following business service apps does your team use?
91% of Business Technology respondents reported having frustrations with their roles.
Join the Community
Executive Summary
1. Business Technology Leaders Drive Productivity and Innovation
With the continued rise of SaaS applications, Business Technology leaders bring a holistic view of the company across individual functional departments.
94 percent of Business Technology (BT) respondents agree or strongly agree that Business Technology Teams are key changemakers and drivers of an organization’s productivity and innovation.
82 percent of BT leaders report being backlogged with their projects with Finance being the biggest culprit at 71 percent, followed by Sales and HR.
2. Existing Tools Are Slowing Down Business Transformation
44 percent indicate that tools at their disposal are slowing them down followed by tactical, day-to-day fire fighting at 42 percent.
91 percent of BT respondents are frustrated with their roles, citing the speed with which they are able to respond to Lines of Business (LOB) demands as their number one frustration. 72 percent feel overworked.
Only 18 percent of Business Technology leaders feel “very appreciated” by lines of business.
3. Job Frustrations, Challenges Evolving With New Role
40 percent are frustrated with their current integration/automation tool.
Employee onboarding and offboarding is universally acknowledged as important.
LOB respondents identified Approval Workflows as their most desired automation, BT rated it in the bottom three.
Record to Report is among the lowest desired automations for LOB but in the top 3 for BT.
4. Business Technology and Lines of Business Aren’t Fully Aligned
Business Technology respondents cite ”Hire to retire” procedures for employee on-boarding and off-boarding as the most desired automations (37%).
Lines of Business cite it as the second most desired (26%).
The rules of engagement between IT and its business partners have evolved.
Are Business Technology Teams Delivering on their goal to serve lines of business?
The rules of engagement between IT and its business partners have evolved. This report explores the division of labor between the IT groups now known as Business Technology, and their Lines of Business (LOB) colleagues in managing information technology. What is working? What is not? Are Business Technology leaders and LOBs aligned on these points?
This report highlights areas of success in the field, and uncovers challenges and barriers to success for those in the Business Technology role. This report also highlights how Business Technology leaders are positioned to be the change-makers for businesses.
The first survey was of 112 full-time Business Technology Leaders
The second survey was of 302 Human Resources, Sales, Marketing, Finance and business support professionals
65.46% of the participants in both surveys work at High Growth Companies
The survey was open to full-time employees who worked in the United States for businesses with 100 or more employees. All survey participants were at least Manager level in their current organization.
In aggregate, respondents across both surveys worked in organizations of the following size:
App Landscape Managed by Business Technology Respondents
Over half of our Business Technology respondents reported managing the company’s CRM and Collaboration Apps
The respondents were closely split between HR, Sales, Marketing, and Finance with slightly less in Support.
A second survey was conducted to gather responses from other Lines of Business outside of Business Technology. Participants were asked about their relationship to and confidence in their Business Technology team, as well as their views on both current and future applications and integrations. All respondents were at least management level.
Department Breakdown of Lines of Business Respondents
Apps Used by the Lines of Business Respondents
It’s no surprise over half of the respondents use collaboration tools as those generally are used across departments. However, we also see 43% using Salesforce or another CRM and 42% using Oracle EBS, SAP.
“We don’t call ourselves IT at Arlo. We call ourselves Business Technology services because we bring services through technology. The kind of experience you are used to as a consumer is the same experience our employees expect.”
—Sridevi Pasumarthi, VP of Information Technology at Arlo
The majority of Business Technology leaders are evaluating 3-5 apps per quarter regardless of company size. We also see 11% of high growth company leaders evaluating more than 10 per quarter in order to meet the demands of a company in hypergrowth.
“A couple of decades ago, when a CIO was making a decision for an application, they were making it for at least a decade for that ERP or HR software. That’s no longer the name of the game here. At this point, things are moving really quickly, and so you have to be agile with how you’re selecting your tools and getting them up and running.”
—Mandy Shimshock, Director IT Business Applications, Zendesk
All
Emerging
High Growth
Growth
Mature
“It’s really important that you’re viewed as an independent third party, and it doesn’t matter so much where you sit as long as you can establish that. … [The other critical piece] is having a strong champion at the C-level. I report to the SVP, Trust, which may sound odd to external people, but it works because of that support.”
—Brian Flood, Sr. Director, Business Systems and Data, Fastly
Desired Automations for Business Technology Leaders
Desired Automations by Lines of Business
The automations most desired by Lines of Business differ than those cited by Business Technology. For Lines of Business, there is greater interest in automations for Record to Report and Approval workflows, and less interest in Helpdesk / ITSM automations.
Most Desired Automations by Lines of Business
Common Automations
Currently in Place
Platforms Being Used for Integration and Automation
Backlogs
Job Frustrations for Business Technology Leaders
Trust and Appreciation by
Lines of Business
The Top Challenges to
Getting Things Done
Business Technology Leaders are the Changemakers of their Org
"Because we can see across, we see where there are opportunities to connect teams, data, and ideas. Specifically, from a BT perspective, we have to ensure that we are not only building our business to be successful, but that we are incorporating the perspective that is important for feeling where our products continue to expand, innovate, and evolve."
—Diana McKenzie, Workday’s first CIO
Key Takeaways
Better alignment with Lines of Business
It’s clear Business Technology leaders are moving in the right direction when it comes to meeting the needs of the lines of business, but there’s still room for improvement. Cultivating great relationships with LOB leaders and establishing trust are key.
Based on this data, here are 3 things Business Technology Leaders can focus on going forward:
Overcoming backlogs and addressing the frustrations
with your integration tool
Lines of Business acknowledge the importance of having a centralized Business Technology team that is responsible for building and maintaining cross-functional workflows and critical application integrations across the enterprise. But dissatisfaction among BT leaders with their ability to respond to business demands shows that changes in how things are done could benefit everyone.
Backlogs happen to the best of us, but choosing an integration and automation tool that is agile and fast to deploy can make a huge difference. One thing to consider—does your tool allow smart business analysts and app admins to create integrations and automations for their team with governance from BT? Democratization with strong oversight is the future for IT.
Invest in a Business Technology Team or suffer from poor reporting and pipeline forecasting
Many companies have started to create Business Technology Teams, but their focus and importance is not fully agreed upon yet. It’s understood that the SaaS applications need support in a business but, beyond support, BT teams are uniquely positioned to see the business as a whole. As a result, automation and integration capabilities have become one of the principal responsibilities of BT teams, but coding is now a secondary priority and skill.
Due to this bird's eye view of business, this new branch of IT can drive real organizational change and help business teams achieve tangible outcomes in addition to keeping the lights on. It’s no surprise 94% of our survey respondents feel they play a leading role in driving the growth of their businesses.
Workato commissioned Atomik Research, an independent market research company, to conduct two surveys in late 2019 in the United States. There were two sets of survey respondents: Business Technology leaders and those working in other Lines of Business.
All survey participants were at least Manager level in their current organization.
2020
A survey of both Business Technology Leaders and the Lines of Business they aim to enable.
Total
HR
Sales
Marketing
Finance
Support
Methodology
Satisfaction with Integration and Automation Goals
Desired Automations for Business Technology Leaders
Common Automations Currently in Place
Platforms Being Used for Integration and Automation
Backlogs
Trust and Appreciation by Lines of Business
Job Frustrations for Business Technology Leaders
The Top Challenges to Getting Things Done
Business Technology Leaders are Changemakers
Key Takeaways