Majority striving for Event-Driven Architecture

30th November 2021

Logistics BusinessMajority striving for Event-Driven Architecture

Solace, a leader in powering real-time event-driven enterprises, has announced the results of an industry-first survey on event-driven architecture (EDA), shedding light on how organisations are striving to incorporate real-time data and event-driven architecture into their IT landscape.

Led by independent research firm Coleman Parkes, the global survey of 840 respondents, in roles ranging from C-Suite to IT architecture, discovered:

  • The majority of organisations, 85%, recognise the critical business value in adopting EDA
  • Adoption is still ‘early days’, as only 13% claim to have achieved full EDA maturity
  • The IT department is bought in, but more work needs to be done with business leadership

Gartner asserts “as the mastery of EDA is essential to digital business, and achieving this mastery is a multistep process, application leaders — still lacking a plan of action for strategic use of EDA — must begin now.” *

The findings show the majority of organisations surveyed clearly recognise the value of EDA and know what they want to achieve with it. The top priorities for EDA implementation were as follows:

  • Improving application responsiveness (46%)
  • Improving customer experiences (44%)
  • Responding to events and changes in real-time (43%)

Overall, 71% of businesses see the benefits of EDA outweighing the costs, or at least equalling them. This is partly driven by what businesses stand to lose by failure to invest in real-time data capabilities. With a lack of EDA, businesses are most concerned at the following outcomes:

  • Decision-making based on inconsistent & out of data information (46%)
  • Prevention of rapid response to threats and opportunities (45%)
  • Hindered ability to innovate (44%)

“The appetite for real-time data sharing as a means of coping with constantly changing landscapes is increasing. Businesses are under unprecedented pressure, with shifting customer demands pushing them into adapting and innovating,” said Mychelle Mollot, chief marketing officer, Solace. “For many, a business model underpinned by event-driven architecture has already proven its value, the benefits by far outweigh the costs, and they are on the way to implementing EDA across a variety of use cases.”

EDA maturity: early days to adoption

Despite high levels of enthusiasm for EDA, just 13% of global businesses surveyed claim to have made it to the ‘promised land’ of full EDA maturity. For those still on the journey, a number of obstacles lie in their way:

  • 75% of organisations cite lack of adequate technology as a key roadblock to EDA
  • 59% say they haven’t yet identified the right tools and vendors to meet their needs
  • A lack of education on the benefits (38%) or talent to execute implementation (37%) were also notable obstacles

Furthermore, for EDA to succeed, the survey found organisations need greater buy-in at the business leadership level. On the IT side, 61% already appreciate the value of real-time event-driven data distribution, pointing at an appetite for EDA. This number, however, drops off to just 35% when looking at business roles, where decision makers might have a harder time reconciling how the bottom line can benefit from EDA.

“Whatever their level of maturity, organisations know they must face some common challenges, which centre around education, skills, and efficiency,” added Mollot. “Crucially, IT already knows the possibilities of EDA: now is the time to prove the value to the bottom line and bring business leadership onboard.”

CLICK HERE to read Solace’s The Great EDA Migration report.

* Source: Gartner “Maturity Model for Event-Driven Architecture”, Yefim Natis, Massimo Pezzini, Keith Guttridge, Roy Schulte, 30th November 2020.