Digital transformation: The perils of digital transformation have not gone away

For many businesses, digital transformation seems to be a journey rather than a destination, as emerging technologies disrupt already digitized processes, creating budget pressures not foreseen when projects were initiated.

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Our 2018 European Tech Index reveals:

The importance of digital transformation

The business imperative remains strong, with 63 percent of respondents (64 percent in 2016) again agreeing they need to digitally transform to remain competitive. However, the challenge is to ensure that a currently poor process is not simply digitized.

The advantages of digital transformation are well recognized

The key benefits are widely seen as having more streamlined processes (57 percent of respondents) and increased and faster information flows for improved decision making (52 percent overall).

But the drawbacks of digital transformation all seem more prominent

This suggests greater skepticism about cost and ease of implementation as programs are rolled out, including the level of investment, cited by 46 percent in 2018 (up from 35 percent in 2016), and lack of staff expertise, 41 percent in 2018 (up from 33 percent in 2016).  

Outsourcing plugs the resources gap

Three-quarters of businesses claimed to be using outsourced suppliers to some extent to implement their digital transformation program. Clearly it remains a challenge finding the necessary resource in-house.