The survey, composed of 463 enterprises, was undertaken by Appian with the research methodology established by DevOps.com. The survey is titled “The 2018 Digital Transformation Readiness Survey.” Other headlines from the survey are presented in the Digital Journal article “Are businesses simply too busy for digital transformation?”
The survey finds that many businesses, undertaking a digital transformation journey, have goals that are hampered by the available technology. This is shifting the focus away from the boardroom and back to the Information Technology department.
According to ZD Net’s assessment of the Appian survey, many business leaders opine that inefficient processes and technologies are slowing down the gains that can be realized from digital transformational.
One reason for this is because businesses have become weighed down by “technical debt” (that is software cannot match the business objectives). A second reason is the lack of progress in implementing software solutions, which is partly a factor of the vast number of software applications required to support the new business environment.
The ‘debt factor’ was raised by 91 percent of the 4653 respondents, while 74 percent raised the ‘gap factor’ in terms of the slow implementation of software. A general theme was with many businesses attempting to deal with rising information technology costs together with the complexities of implementation.
The cost and complexity factors mean that medium-term and long-term strategies are often pushed back as the business battles the need to short-term fixes and overlays.
To avoid digital transformation becoming counterproductive, businesses need to focus on ‘digital efficiency’ according to analyst Charles Betz. Betz has written a book called ‘Managing Digital‘. The book firmly focuses on people development and strategy, offering “a structured path “to show the key issues and skills needed at each stage of the digital journey, starting with the basics of a small digital project, eventually building to the concerns of a large enterprise.”
Other advice on developing a digital transformation strategy comes from Kelvin Claveria, who argues that disruption can come from anywhere which means companies must have a wide scope when undertaking business intelligence gathering. This process also includes asking customers and assessing customer expectations. A further point made by Claveria is the need to develop an internal culture – a business needs to take its workforce with it on its digital transformation journey.
