Despite rising optimism in digital transformation, the vast majority of organisations are still suffering failure, delays or scaled back expectations from digital transformation projects, research from Couchbase has found.
In a survey of 450 heads of digital transformation in enterprises across the US, UK, France and Germany, 73 per cent of organisations has made “significant” or better improvements to the end-user experience in their organisation through digital innovation.
More than 22 per cent say they have transformed or completely “revolutionised” end-user experience, representing a marked increase over Couchbase’s 2017 survey (15 per cent). However, organisations are still experiencing issues meeting their digital ambitions, including:
· 86 per cent said factors including reliance on legacy technology, the complexity of implementing technologies, and lack of resources and skills had prevented them from pursuing a new digital service or another transformation project that their organisation wanted
· 55 per cent said that their reliance on relational databases “somewhat” limited their ability to implement digital transformation projects, while 17 per cent said “severely.”
· 81 per cent have had a digital transformation project fail, suffer a significant delay, or be scaled back in the last 12 months
· 42 per cent said they were behind schedule, or at risk of falling behind, on their most significant digital transformation project
· 73 per cent said that, while the vast potential of digital projects is often talked about, most of the time they fall short of being genuinely transformational or revolutionary – albeit a fall compared to the previous two years
At the same time, transformation is not slowing down. Ninety-one per cent of respondents said that disruption in their industry has accelerated over the last 12 months, 40 per cent “rapidly.” And organisations plan to spend $30 million on digital transformation projects in the next 12 months, compared to $27 million in the previous 12.
Couchbase CEO Matt Cain said that Digital transformation had reached an inflexion point
“At this pivotal time, it is critical for enterprises to overcome the challenges that have been holding them back for years. Organisations that put the right people and technology in place, and truly drive their digital transformation initiatives, will benefit from market advantages and business returns.”
Organisations are aware of the risks of failing to digitally innovate – 46 per cent fear becoming less relevant in the market if they do not innovate, while 42 per cent say they will lose IT staff to more innovative competitors, making it harder to innovate in the future. As a result, organisations are pressing forward with projects, perhaps dangerously. Seventy-one per cent agree that businesses are fixated on the promise of digital transformation, to the extent that IT teams risk working on projects that may not deliver tangible benefits.
One key to delivering tangible benefits is ensuring that digital transformation strategy is set with the needs of the business in mind. The majority of organisations (52 per cent) still have a digital transformation strategy set by the IT team, meaning the C-suite is not guiding projects and strategy that should have a major impact on the business. At the same time, the primary drivers for transformation are almost all reactive – responding to competitors’ advances, pressure from customers for new services and responding to changes in legislation were each reported by 23 per cent of respondents. Conversely, original ideas from within the business only drive eight per cent of organisations’ transformations.
Cain said: “For companies to succeed with their digital projects and overcome the inherent challenges with these new approaches, they have to attack the projects comprehensively and systemically.”
“Transformation is ultimately achieved when the right combination of organisational commitment and next-generation technology is driven across the entire enterprise as a true strategic imperative, not left in the sole hands of the IT team. The best technology will then help companies enable the customer outcomes they desire.”
