Keeping Up With the Pace of Digital Transformation

- 1 of
-
Keeping Up With the Pace of Digital Transformation
Digital processes are the key that unlocks competitive advantage and business success, but putting the concept into motion and achieving gains can be elusive. -
A Risky Approach
50% of the "laggards" in the digital transformation arena reported that their organization's culture is risk-adverse. That figure dropped to 23% among transformation "leaders." -
A Telling Experiment
60% of laggards cited an inability to experiment quickly as a barrier to digital transformation. Only 29% of leaders said this was a problem. -
A Big Change
56% of laggards reported that their organization struggles with change management, while only 29% of leaders said it was a problem for their enterprise. -
Silo Issues
52% of laggards cited an inability to work beyond silos as a barrier to digital transformation. Among leaders, the figure is 23%. -
Legacy Challenges
39% of digital transformation laggards and 32% of leaders reported that legacy systems block progress. -
Critical Skills for Digital Transformation
Ability to adapt to change: 31%, Customer-focused problem solving: 27%, Ability to communicate and collaborate: 18% -
Digital Impact
Leaders versus laggards had different views about the impact of digital technology on performance. These include increased customer loyalty (74% vs. 26%) and optimized costs of serving customers (90% vs. 44%). -
Money Counts
75% of leaders—but only 20% of laggards—said that increased top-line revenue results from optimized digital performance. -
Controlling Costs
86% of leaders—but only 42% of laggards—cited digital technology and transformation as a way to reduce costs through improved internal efficiencies.
It's no secret that digital processes are the key that unlocks competitive advantage and business success. Yet, putting the concept into motion and achieving gains can be elusive. A new report, "Accelerating the Pace and Impact of Digital Transformation," from Harvard Business Review Analytic Services in association with the Genpact Research Institute, offers insights into the state of the digital enterprise. It states that "only 21 percent of companies are truly reaping the transformative value of digital." It also found that digital is a competitive weapon, but its impact is unevenly distributed; risk-adverse cultures are a bigger problem than the lack of technology prowess, budget or talent; and the necessary leadership, skills, vision and approach are often fragmented or immature. In this emerging space, leaders focus their efforts differently—homing in on interdependencies across organizational processes through metrics and other tools. They learn how to adopt an approach that HBR describes as "lean digital." The report states that leaders "use digital technologies to strengthen competitive prowess by launching new products and business models, and revamping the customer experience, particularly the alignment of middle- and back-office functions/systems to support it." Here's a look at some of the key findings from a survey of 680 executives across a variety of functions and industries.