It's a business pain point most know only too well, and new research confirms that integration challenges are not just a pain, they're slowing companies' digital ambitions and causing infrastructure issues and risks. MuleSoft's eighth annual Connectivity Benchmark Report shows the number of applications in Australian organisations (sorry, New Zealand, there are no Kiwi results in this one) have increased nearly 10 percent in the past year, to 1,032, highlighting the complexity of the digital landscape. But 68 percent of those applications are not integrated with other applications used by the business, creating data silos and the flow on effects, including increased costs, duplicated work, productivity bottlenecks and disconnected experiences. It's a situation that's proving costly – not just in terms of money spent building custom integrations (read on for those eye-watering figures) but also in the slowing of digital transformation efforts – something 84 percent of Australians said was happening, causing infrastructure and major risks as IT budgets come under increased scrutiny. And the cost of failing to complete digital transformation initiatives successfully?