How prepared is your company for digital transformation? If one well-known management consulting and research firm is to be believed, it’s probably not well prepared at all. But if you take three important steps, the group says, you can be well on the way to reaping the benefits of transformation.
Research from the Everest Group claims that only 10 percent of organizations it surveyed is prepared for digital transformation. Of 219 enterprises it surveyed, only 21 are what it calls “pinnacle enterprises” that are ready to digitally transform their companies.
Everest research shows that these pinnacle enterprises gain significant value from being so well prepared. It notes that in these enterprises:
- IT enabled 86 percent to serve a new market or customer segment, compared to 43 percent who were not ready for digital transformation.
- IT supported 85 percent to gain a significant growth of current products and services compared to 33 percent who were not ready for digital transformation
- Ninety five percent increased employee productivity between 10 and 30 percent, compared to fifty four percent who were not ready for digital transformation.
What Are the Three Steps Towards Digital Transformation?
The group found three key differentiators between companies prepared for digital transformation and companies that aren’t prepared. First is that the IT organizations in pinnacle companies are aligned with the company’s business. A key element of this alignment is a collaborative culture. Some 95 percent of companies prepared for digital transformation surveyed by Everest collaborate across functions within an organization.
The next differentiator is that companies ready for digital transformation support innovation. They do that by sharing knowledge across the enterprise. In addition, they are invested in experimentation. Compared to companies not ready for digital transformation, the research found, pinnacle enterprises are “committed investors in prototyping (81% versus 36%), digital studios for new product development (71% versus 27%), and innovation funds to support start-up activities (76% versus 35%). Why do they matter? Because it shows they understand the need for ongoing experimentation to achieve innovations that deliver value.”
Finally, companies prepared for digital transformation have a laser-like focus on business outcomes. They do this by improving their customer experience, notably by using analytics. They are also far speedier and more responsive at using technology to respond more quickly to market changes — the Everest survey claims “81% of Pinnacle Enterprises use technology to speed their execution (versus 38% of the unready).”
What’s the Best Tool to Spur Digital Transformation?
Alpha Software's TransForm technology is the best tool for speeding up enterprise digital transformation. It improves collaboration, aligns IT with the business and makes companies more responsive by speeding up app development. TransForm it offers tools that let existing staff build business apps in minutes and enable savvy business domain experts and IT departments to work together to digitize business processes and deliver tangible business impact. It also simultaneously enables IT to control data integration with systems of record and data security compliance. Check out our 90-second video about TransForm, and get more details about TransForm here.
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