Manual Data Processes Hindering Growth for 87 Percent Of Scale-Ups, New Jitterbit Research Reveals

• 78% of leaders of scale-ups surveyed across Europe plan to grow their business by over 40% in the next 12 months but research shows they are grappling with automation and integration challenges that are inhibiting their ability to scale efficiently

• 82% of executives surveyed agree greater integration and business automation is key to scaling their business in 2024 and beyond

Jitterbit, a global leader for empowering transformation through automation, has revealed the results of its latest research report ‘Integrate to Scale: How Leading Emerging Enterprises are Automating Their Way to Success’ – an in-depth survey of Founders and C-suite execs at emerging enterprises in Europe. The research probed business leaders’ perspectives on automation, integration, and the challenges emerging enterprises face in scaling their businesses.

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The research, commissioned by Jitterbit and conducted in October 2023 by independent research company Censuswide, surveyed 400 Founders and C-Level executives of venture capital backed companies in the UK, Spain, Germany and Sweden. It reveals a bullish attitude toward growth in the upcoming year, but significant challenges within these businesses managing manual data processes and data silos – a symptom of a lack of business-wide integration.

With venture funding in Europe forecast to fall 38.5% from $83 billion in 2022 to $51 billion in 2023 and pressure on scale-up leaders to deliver greater returns on investment, many emerging enterprises are turning to automation and integration to help drive efficiencies and growth.

Growth ambitions for the upcoming year

• 78% of leaders of scale-ups surveyed across Europe plan to grow their business by at least 40% in the next 12 months
• 41% of founders surveyed plan to grow their companies by more than 60%
• 82% of all respondents agree business automation is key to scaling their business

What’s hindering growth

• 87% of all respondents blame data silos and manual data processes (where employees – not integrations – move data between platforms and solutions within the business) for hindering growth by agreeing that they are a pain point in their business
• Looking at manual data processes, 38% of respondents reported having between 26-50 manual processes within the business, and 55% reported having between 50-100 manual data processes to manage
• 78% would like to reduce the number of manual data processes in their business

Another source of pain for emerging enterprises is the lack of integration of all of the software solutions, platforms and technologies that they employ. An overwhelming majority – 74% of all respondents – agreed that their company’s mix of software solutions, platforms and technologies are not fully integrated. Moreover, nearly 76% responded that they find it difficult not only to integrate new software, but to manage those integrations as well.

To alleviate these challenges, many companies are turning to a variety of different integration solutions such as Integration Platform as a Service (iPaaS) (56%), as well as single point connector workflow automation tools (52%) and low code application development platforms (36%) to reduce operational bottlenecks, enhance efficiency, and ultimately improve their overall productivity.

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Integration solutions are particularly popular with businesses wanting to eliminate manual data processes with 43% of respondents citing this as their top reason for using them. A further 28% are using integration software to cut down on costs.

Joost De Bot, Senior Vice President & General Manager, EMEA at Jitterbit, said:

“It’s positive to see that business leaders are still confident about growth and 82% of these emerging enterprise companies recognise business automation is key to achieving it. However, it’s clear that one of the thorniest challenges they face in automating operations is the sheer number of manual data processes that they still employ within their businesses. These manual processes are not only time-consuming and inefficient, but are typically error-prone.

Successful enterprises of the future must act swiftly to adopt and automate their business processes to stay ahead. There’s no doubt that leveraging integration tools and removing manual processes will play a crucial role in enabling emerging enterprise players to scale the right way and remain competitive in an increasingly competitive market where capital is harder to raise.”