Digital Transformation

Digital Transformation: The Next Big IT Project

Research results show that almost 70% of businesses are integrating digital technology into all their operations, (digital transformation), as their top priority this year.

TechTarget’s IT Priorities survey involved 624 IT professionals. Whilst digital transformation will mean different actions to each business, it is clearly the main focus of IT attention and investment during 2019. Why? The results reveal the objectives involved:

1.     Streamlining operations, boosting internal efficiency and process management (47%)

2.     Improve employee performance and productivity (47%)

3.     Enhance customer experience and brand loyalty (43%)

4.     Enhance product or service innovation (40%)

5.     Addressing compliance and security requirements (36%)

6.     Accelerating time to market (28%)

7.     Enhanced customer insights (23%)

8.     Decreasing skills gap/acquiring new talent (19%)

Almost half of participants – 46% – have projects underway to achieve these aims.

TechTarget observes: “In last year’s survey, enhancing customers’ experiences was most frequently associated with digital transformation (48%) with improving worker productivity following at 43%. The shift in digital transformation drivers might be attributable to the realisation that to serve customers better, internal processes need to be tightened up first.”

IT Implementation Plans

Also revealed were the ways in which IT teams intend to achieve streamlining operations and improving productivity. Firstly, increased investment in technologies that improve employee experience and productivity is planned (39%). This is closely followed by increased use of cloud services (38%).

36% of participants intend to introduce environmental upgrades, modernising legacy applications and refreshing or upgrading on-premises IT infrastructure.

Paying for Digital Transformation

Most participants had additional budget to help pay for digital transformation. 55% of respondents expected a higher budget during this year whilst 8% would need to manage with less funding. The main focus of IT investment is security and risk management (44%), followed by cloud services (41%).

“As businesses expect more from their technology, it’s important that their systems and infrastructure can meet these operational needs,” explains Eric Hughes of EMH Technology. “Huge benefits exist for most businesses if they embrace digital transformation.”

The starting point? Have a no-obligation chat with the friendly team at EMH Technology. They’ll offer jargon-free advice about how digital transformation can help your business.