SilkRoad’s new report, “Top Sources of Hires 2015,” reveals that nearly half of all interviews and 28% of all hires for employers around the globe came from job search engines and job boards. The report also shows that Indeed maintained its position as the world’s most popular online source for candidates (in fact, it gained 8% as a source of hires), representing over 50% of all online sourcing activity.

With numbers like those, it’s clear that the online employment sector is thriving and continues to serve as a crucial source of talent to the world’s employers. But if you look a little deeper, the picture isn’t entirely rosy.

The SilkRoad report shows that one reason for Indeed’s sustained success is the company’s integrated mobile application, which helps candidates complete the job application process with employers’ applicant tracking systems (ATSs). In other words, Indeed has solved the widespread disconnect that plagues almost all other online recruitment sites, job boards and the ATS products.

But thousands of other recruitment sites, job boards and the ATS products remain disconnected—and this disconnect has to be solved on a global level if we’re ever going to curb the dismaying candidate abandonment rate.

According to some industry sources, upwards of 90% of candidates abandon the online application process. A significant portion of this abandonment is the direct result of the broken “hand-off” between recruitment sites, job boards and ATSs. Candidates simply are refusing to put up with onerous profile registration requirements, redundant forms to be filled out, and excessive or invasive application questions. The situation is so bad that only 1 out of 10 of job seekers completes an online application when they’re redirected from a job board to an employer’s ATS. This can’t go on.

Sadly, many employers are only now becoming aware of the problem — and job boards and ATSs are just now waking up to the reality that this is “their problem.” In fact, it’s OUR problem. It belongs to everyone who’s involved in the online employment sector — recruitment sites, job boards, ATS developers, and employers. And we need to solve it together.

Sourcing data is becoming more and more available, and it shows that job board performance lags behind that of other talent sources. As a result, many employers are making decisions to take their recruitment dollars elsewhere. We need to stop this alarming trend now.

Employers need their ATSs to be connected with recruiting sites and job boards. We need an “ecosystem” solution — one that helps us all. Indeed has taken a step that we all need to take. If we don’t, our future is going to get less and less rosy.