NEWS
Adoption of digital technology no guarantee for innovation
Bain & Company and Red Hat, released the results of joint research aimed at determining how deeply enterprises are committed to digital transformation and the benefits these enterprises are seeing. The report, For Traditional Enterprises, the Path to Digital and the Role of Containers, surveyed nearly 450 US executives, IT leaders and IT personnel across industries.
They found that businesses that recognise the potential for digital disruption are looking to new digital technologies, such as cloud computing and modern application development, to increase agility and deliver new services to customers while reducing costs. Yet, strategies and investments in digital transformation are still in their earliest stages.
For those survey respondents that have invested in digital, the technology and business results are compelling. Bain and Red Hat’ s research demonstrates that those using new technologies to digitally transform their business experienced:
• Increased market share, these enterprises are eight times more likely to have grown their market share, compared to those in the earliest stages of digital transformation
• Delivery of better products in a moretimely fashion through increased adoption of emerging technologies, as much as three times faster than those in the earlier stages of digital transformation
• More streamlined development processes, more flexible infrastructure, faster time to market and reduced costs by using containers for application development.
Despite the hype, however, even the most advanced traditional enterprises surveyed still score well below startups and emerging enterprises that have embraced new technologies from inception digital natives. According to the survey results, nearly 80 % of traditional enterprises score below 65 on a 100-point scale that assesses how these organisations believe they are aligning digital technologies to achieve business outcomes.
Ultimately, the report reveals that the degree of progress among respondents moving towards digital transformation
varies widely, driven in part by business contexts, actual IT needs and overall attitudes towards technology.
For example, Bain and Red Hat found that while 63 % of enterprises surveyed have built processes to respond to digital trends, only 19 % see rapid innovation as a priority. Additionally, for approximately 65 % of survey respondents, the primary motivation driving their digital efforts is moves made by their competition, highlighting a highly reactive approach to digital transformation.
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