Organisations need to move faster on the road to digitalisation

Now more than ever, technology supports and drives every business, from banks to retailers, whether customer-facing or internally focused. Companies that find ways to maximize their budget when investing in digital strategies and technologies have the opportunity to improve their ROI – read about how one company improved by more than 1,000%.

The report, “The State of Modernization, Transformation, and Innovation in the Digital Age,” outlines that 59 percent of survey respondents said effectively using technology has been the key to transformational success. However, 1 in 2 decision makers admit their company isn’t innovating at a competitive rate. Organizations still face multiple challenges to more quickly and efficiently roll out their modernization, innovation and transformation programs. 

The top barriers for digital transformation and innovation efforts include insufficient in-house skills (41%) followed by a restrictive budget (33%).

“The next decade will undergo an even more rapid pace of change than the 2000s and 2010s,” said Chris Port, Chief Operating Officer for Boomi. “Though modernization, transformation, and innovation have paid dividends in recent years, organizations can’t afford to rest on their laurels. Especially now. Not when business priorities, drivers of change, and technology needs are rapidly converging, as reflected in this survey.”

The Vanson Bourne survey went on to uncover:

• Businesses turning to low-code to drive transformation initiatives: Companies are trying to do more with employees who have less technical expertise. That’s why investing in low code platforms is a big focus for more than half of enterprises that don’t have one already. Almost 50% anticipate they will introduce a low-code development platform before the end of 2020. 

• Companies hone in on customer experience and employee productivity: Today’s transformation efforts are focused primarily on customer experience (54%) and employee productivity (50%). Both of these areas are crucial for supporting more modern, agile customers and workforces. Business and IT decision makers agree the biggest benefit they’ve seen from modernization is improved customer experience (49%). 

• The CEO currently drives innovation among C-suite, but within three years innovation will be companywide responsibility: Organizations still need to modernize, transform and innovate, and it will take a companywide shift to make that happen, with everyone participating. Currently, innovation is led from top down by the CEO (65%), CIO (58%), and department heads (54%), while only 12% said the workforce as a whole is leading it. However, 56% of respondents anticipate that innovation will be everyone’s responsibility in three years — and not just that of the leadership.

Additional data revealed:

• 39% agree that their organization is regularly “out-changed” by its competitors and industry peers. 
• IT decision makers see more benefits to modernization overall than business decision makers, especially when it comes to streamlining processes (48%). 
• 59% of organizations agree they have to get technology “right” over the next 12 months to ensure continued success. 
• 86% say that technology will dramatically change the way their organizations operate over the next 10 years.

“Employees drive every business process and interaction. Investing in your workforce today by improving their training, workflow, and resources with technology will position your company as the one to beat,” continued Port. “It takes the right kind of culture and the right people to continuously out-change and get ahead of the competition. Modernization and innovation needs to start today and then never stop.”