What’s with this Agnostic Thing anyway?

Many years ago, (too many to admit perhaps), we, IntegrationWorks, made the decision to be agnostic with respect to the integration technologies we work with. At a time when everyone else was proclaiming their specialist skills around specific products and looking to develop businesses around those, we swam against the tide, and embraced the diverse range of solutions that were available in the integration space. Our approach was greeted with incredulity, how did that make sense? Vendor partners were confronted, potential customers were sceptical, and staff were in a state of shock.

Vendors were reluctant to engage. Why would they support a partnership with an organisation that wasn’t fully committed to their product and theirs alone? How could we be trusted to promote and support their product? Were we just opportunists that would promote and sell anything to get a deal? That was a challenging conversation.

Today we work with every major integration technology in the market. We’ve jumped through the hoops, gained the certifications, and have major partners recommending us to organisations as their go-to partners to engage with, in markets across the planet.

Customers today are far more discerning. All those years ago we were looking to implement integration solutions into organisations that weren’t far beyond file transfers and batch updates. That landscape has changed completely. A partner that has a great understanding of all the solutions available, is far more valuable than an anachronistic one-trick pony. We speak from a position of authority and customers appreciate our breadth and depth of knowledge. Today it’s more about navigating the complexity of what customers have and making the best use of it rather than shiny new toys for the sake of it.

Our team face a big challenge. We need them to be extremely competent in more than one technology and we demand the certifications to back it up. And yes, we are serious. We have high standards and expect a lot from our people. Today we have a world-class team of people who cover in excess of 20 different partners’ products and do so with professionalism, commitment and enthusiasm. We live by our tagline, we are ‘The Integration Experts’. We have the processes in place to grow more experts and to grow our existing experts.

So, for us, our customers, and most of our partners, the agnostic approach is working, and for now, we’re sticking to it.

Let’s have a look at some of the more specific benefits of this approach. In our view being highly agnostic, (20+ partners), provides these benefits to our customers:

The Agnostic Approach – The Benefits

Recognition of the Value of the Technology you Already Have

As businesses grow and evolve, they often accumulate a wide array of technologies. These existing systems can sometimes be overlooked in favour of shiny new tools. However, each piece of your technology stack has its value and potential that can be leveraged to meet your business needs.

Our tech-agnostic stance encourages us to look at these existing technologies with a fresh perspective. We take the time to understand your current tech landscape, uncovering any features that could be lying dormant and unutilised. This approach allows us to enhance and optimise what’s already in place, saving resources and preventing unnecessary complexity.

Balancing Innovation and Optimisation

While there’s undeniable value in new technologies, it’s crucial to balance this with making the best use of existing ones. A key aspect of our tech-agnostic approach is this balance. We consider the full range of available technologies – both new and existing – when crafting our integration solutions.

This means that we may recommend cutting-edge technology to fill a gap or meet a new requirement. At the same time, we might identify ways to better utilise your current tech stack. It’s about selecting the best tools for the job, regardless of whether they’re already in your toolbox or yet to be acquired.

Fit for Purpose

This balanced approach ties back to the principle of ‘fit for purpose.’ Instead of focusing on a specific type of technology, we concentrate on your specific needs and objectives. We assess each technology – new or existing – based on how well it aligns with these needs. This ensures that we provide solutions that are not only technically sound but also effective in achieving your business goals.

The Power of Independence

Being tech-agnostic means being independent. We are not tied to or favour any specific technology, vendor, or platform. This independence gives us the freedom to focus purely on the needs of our clients, without any external pressure or influence.

We can objectively assess each technology, evaluating its strengths, weaknesses, and how well it aligns with the task at hand. This helps us in recommending and implementing the best fit-for-purpose solutions, drawing from the widest possible range of technologies to meet the unique requirements of each client.

Being technology-agnostic isn’t about ignoring the allure of new technology. Instead, it’s about appreciating the full range of technological resources, whether they’re the latest industry innovations or the existing systems within your business.

At IntegrationWorks, our tech-agnostic approach allows us to maximise the use of what you already have while staying open to new possibilities. This results in robust, efficient, and purpose-driven integration solutions that drive your business towards its objectives.

If you’d like to discuss further how The Integration Experts can make a difference to your business, get in touch.