Digital transformation is failing due to a gap between what companies hope to achieve and what they’ve accomplished so far.
Digital transformation is the integration of digital technology into all areas of a business, fundamentally changing how you operate and deliver value to customers. It’s also a cultural change that requires organisations to continually challenge the status quo, experiment, and get comfortable with failure.
Nearly every business hopes that using AI, deep tech, and Web 3 will yield immediate benefits and many are planning to boost their digital investments to drive business optimisation, sustainability and other priorities. But digital transformation has yet to fulfil its promise.
That’s according to a survey by Boston Consulting Group’s BCG X tech build and design unit that polled more than 2,600 executives and key digital decision makers in 13 countries. Their responses highlight critical challenges as well as ways to improve the odds of success.
Transformation today is as much about high hopes as it is about talent challenges.
While 60 per cent of companies will increase their digital transformation investments in 2023, nearly 65 per cent report hiring difficulties in key roles like AI experts, software engineers, and data scientists, and 93 per cent are struggling to navigate the rapidly growing landscape of new disruptive technologies.
The survey also uncovered five areas that leaders identified as the biggest challenges in executing digital transformations:
Making the right choices among disruptive technologies
Reaching scale fast with new digital solutions
Recruiting talent
Prioritising investment and development
Managing the cost and uncertainty of return on investment
The survey covered more than 2,600 executives, nearly all of them key decision makers, in 13 countries to better understand digital transformation. Through transformation, companies hope to develop new business models and achieve greater sustainability. About 60 per cent plan to increase investments in 2023 in digital transformation. To date, however, companies have struggled to deliver bottom-line results. They are aiming too low. The focus of most digital transformation is on internal processes and operations rather than breakthrough performance.
