System Integrators and the Future of Enterprise IT

Innovation is reshaping businesses from the inside out. Complexity is multiplying with every new platform, application, and data flow. System integrators (SIs) are becoming the difference between organizations that scale confidently and those that stall. With artificial intelligence (AI) enabling smaller companies to compete directly with larger rivals, the stakes have never been higher. And the opportunities have never been greater.

According to Fortune Business Insights, the global system integration market is projected to reach $932.66 billion by 2032, growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 11.2 percent, with North America holding more than 34 percent of the share. SIs are firms that design, implement, and manage technology solutions by combining subsystems into a unified whole. Their expertise lies in creating and managing the connections that allow those subsystems to function together effectively and securely, a practice known as systems integration.

“Almost 20 years ago, Clive Humby, a British mathematician, coined the phrase ‘data is the new oil,’” says Jim Kinney, senior vice president and general manager at Presidio. “As all organizations are plotting their strategies with AI, this quote rings truer than ever. The focus of today’s SIs needs to be centered on extracting value from data to produce business outcomes. Our friends at NETSCOUT provide us with incredibly rich data that we leverage in our analytics and machine learning applications. They are refining the ‘data oil’ of packet data into jet fuel that helps power the data-centric solutions we build.”

Does Your Organization Need a System Integrator?

Demand for SIs is rising. Many internal technology teams are already operating at their limits. As digital environments expand, gaps in connectivity and interoperability often emerge, becoming barriers to progress. Modernization timelines are shrinking as competitive pressures and business demands on IT continue to grow. The strain appears gradually: projects take longer, compliance becomes harder to maintain, and productivity dips as staff work around growing limitations, including:

• Systems and tools that fail to communicate, creating silos
• Security and compliance risks when connecting platforms
• Operational inefficiencies that slow progress
• Hybrid and multicloud complexity that stretches resources
• Inability to synthesize diverse data sources into actionable insights
• Limited AI capabilities such as generative interfaces or automation at scale

SIs provide value-added expertise that simplifies the introduction of new technologies, enhances user experience, and builds scalability for long-term growth. Increasingly, they’re guiding organizations through AI and artificial intelligence for IT operations (AIOps) adoption, where success depends on trusted data and seamless integration.

The Changing Role of the Integrator in Enterprise IT

Where once SIs were engaged for short, project-based work, they are now long-term partners accountable for measurable outcomes. Organizations look to them for expertise that spans business priorities as well as technical execution.

This evolution is also about scope. SIs now build compatibility across legacy and modern systems, reduce compliance risks, and guide organizations through resource constraints and change-management hurdles. They also help avoid migration pitfalls and delays, assuring business continuity and improving operational resilience along the way.

“The system integrators we work with understand our customers the same way we do, and they want them to be successful too. They’re deeply familiar with the challenges organizations face every day, whether that’s improving network performance or keeping services secure, because they understand those technology environments and workflows inside and out,” says Jason Chaffee, area vice president for Global Strategic Alliances at NETSCOUT. 

“They see the value of NETSCOUT’s rich, contextualized data as a key enabler to solve real customer problems,” he says. “They can take it from strategy to execution and deliver practical applications of our technology and data in our mutual customers’ environments. That’s what makes them such important partners for us.”

To operate at this level, integrators seek solutions that align directly with the priorities of chief information officers (CIOs), chief information security officers (CISOs), and their teams.

How NETSCOUT Helps System Integrators

Speed and precision will shape the next era of enterprise IT. SIs are the bridge, connecting legacy and emerging technologies to transform complexity into seamless, scalable workflows. NETSCOUT solutions support their role with high-quality, packet-level data from Smart Data insights. With this foundation, SIs can help organizations build more resilient operations.

Contact our experts to learn more about NETSCOUT partnerships and how Smart Data helps system integrators build secure, resilient business and infrastructure initiatives.