EXTOL Customers Cite Rapid Onboarding, Integration Efficiency as Top Business Integration Goals

POTTSVILLE, Pa., June 15, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- EXTOL International, a leading provider of business integration software and services, has identified rapid partner onboarding and increased integration efficiency as the most important customer goals for B2B integration.  A survey conducted during the annual EXTOL University conference, which was held May 23-26, revealed the most important challenges and initiatives for EXTOL customers when they evaluate their enterprise integration needs.

Attendees representing companies in Transportation and Logistics, Food and Grocery, Consumer Packaged Goods, and Healthcare Insurance industries were asked to share their views on the role business-to-business (B2B) integration plays within their businesses.  According to respondents of the survey:

• Nearly 60 percent identified rapid partner onboarding as a key B2B integration goal. Respondents believe that faster provisioning of new partners and transactions is critical to ramping up new revenue streams.

• In addition to partner onboarding, customers cited efforts to consolidate integration across different partner interfaces, formats and protocols as their top B2B integration initiative during the past year.

• B2B integration is no longer perceived as separate from other kinds of business integration (e.g., application and data integration), and is now viewed as an integral part of enterprise processes and operations.

• EXTOL's customers are split on the perceived impact of cloud-based applications on B2B integration. Nearly half believe the cloud will not alter their B2B integration strategy, while an equal amount anticipates some impact on future operations.

"We look forward to EXTOL University each year as an opportunity to engage our customers in wide-ranging discussions about their business integration priorities, experiences, and plans," said Jim O'Leary, Vice President of Product Management for EXTOL. "The responses to this year's survey on B2B integration confirmed that streamlined integration and faster delivery of integration applications are important goals for companies across the board, in every industry."

As EXTOL's premier annual customer education event, EXTOL University provides the company's customers with advanced training, hands-on workshops, and a venue for sharing best practices with others who have faced similar integration challenges.

Ninety-five percent of customers who attended this year rated their educational experience at the event "excellent" or "very good", and 100% of attendees rated the knowledge of EXTOL staff at the event "excellent" or "very good".

For more information about EXTOL University or to learn more about EXTOL's business integration software solutions, visit www.extol.com.

About EXTOL International

EXTOL International, Inc. is a provider of business integration software and services, enabling enterprises to connect with their customers and suppliers, and to integrate business processes and information with internal or cloud-based applications. EXTOL's comprehensive, easy-to-implement integration solutions generate results in a fraction of the time and with significantly less resource commitment than similar solutions. For companies that often struggle with limited budgets, resources and skills, EXTOL provides the same level of partner integration and performance that larger organizations enjoy without the high cost or effort usually associated with integration solutions. The combination of EXTOL's leading-edge technology and team of industry experts ensures an effective solution for automated trading partner communication. For more information about EXTOL, visit www.extol.com.

SOURCE EXTOL International