Business processes have plenty of room for improvement: IT executives say IT and finance, the most computerized of business functions, can be far more automated than they are now. And IT's potential for improving customer service is massive. But data integration is thwarting IT's ability to improve productivity, reduce costs and increase revenues. So, companies are not just adopting new technologies like SOA and Web services—they're beginning to move away from 1990's-era enterprise applications. We are on the verge of a sea change in application integration.

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Technology isn't the only fly in the BPI ointment: Watch for the final finding from the survey on Wednesday, October 25, where we will explore the human factors—in particular, the problem of cross-functional cooperation—that hold back business process improvement.

For more data and analysis, see CIO Insight's Research Center blog at go.cioinsight.com/researchcentral

Next page: New integration technologies are starting to displace older enterprise applications.

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