When Systems Integrate, but People Don’t: The Human Cost of Ignoring Context in Automation

In the race to digitize and automate, integration projects are often measured by technical success—data syncs, workflows, and APIs. But beneath this surface lies a deeper complexity: the human layer.

This presentation explores the real-world challenges encountered in building integrations within a Higher Education context. Despite having defined APIs, aligned schemas, and robust platforms, the project repeatedly encountered friction—not from the technology, but from how humans work, decide, and adapt.

We'll explore issues such as inconsistent use of platforms, informal scheduling practices, manual overrides, and business process misalignment. The talk offers practical strategies for Business Analysts, Solution Architects, and Integration Engineers on how to design systems that respect complexity, context, and human exception-handling.

If you've ever built a technically perfect integration that still didn’t work, this session is for you.