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IT Modernization, Digital Transformation Critical for Business Success
Many businesses are taking the slow road and paying the price.
Lynn Haber
June 10, 2020
3 Min Read
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Among IT modernization, digital transformation and innovation are critical for business success and competitive advantage. However, half of business decision-makers fail to make the necessary strategic investments. As a result, they will suffer for their inaction.
That’s according to the latest findings in a Boomi IT and business report – The State of Modernization, Transformation, and Innovation in the Digital Age. Boomi, a Dell Technologies company, contracted with Vanson Bourne for the survey.
Boomi’s Chris Port
“The next decade will undergo an even more rapid pace of change than the 2000s and 2010s,” said Chris Port, COO for Boomi. “Though modernization, transformation, and innovation have paid dividends in recent years, organizations can’t afford to rest on their laurels. Especially now. Not when business priorities, drivers of change and technology needs are rapidly converging, as reflected in this survey.”
The survey takes the pulse of the state of digital transformation and ongoing modernization and innovation initiatives. The researchers look at the role that business executives and IT leaders play in driving change. Similarly, they examine their unique perspectives on key factors and technology trends.
In addition, researchers examine what matters most in navigating business transformation. That ranges from cultural changes to the use of AI and machine learning (ML). Also examined are the top challenges facing organizations and what they envision for the future of work.
A Closer Look
The report sections include modernization, transformation and innovation. Further, it includes a look toward the future and recommendations for success.
Here are some of the key survey findings.
Modernization
First, modernization. The report defines it as the process of replacing legacy technologies with new systems and services to streamline processes and increase efficiencies.
Ninety-four percent of respondents report they’re actively modernizing.
Among the verticals, the leaders are life sciences (38%) and financial (37%). Other vertical industries in the report include retail, higher education, manufacturing, health care, insurance and public sector.
Among all industries, 32% have finished modernizing, 28% are almost finished, 35% are in the early stages of rollout and 5% are not actively modernizing.
The priority areas for modernization are: IT enterprise architecture (61%), cloud adoption (56%), business processes (50%), business applications (44%) and data center consolidation (39%).
For 49% of organizations, improved customer experience is the top benefit of modernization.
Ninety-five percent of organizations are facing challenges and barriers in their modernization efforts.
Transformation
Secondly, transformation. The report defines it as the process of updating and evolving the way that a business interacts with the customers, employees and partners.
Ninety-two percent of respondent organizations are currently transforming.
Among the verticals, finance (34%) and life sciences (33%) lead completion of transformation initiatives.
Among all industries, 28% have finished, 29% are almost finished, 35% are in the early stages of rollout and 7% are not actively transforming.
The priority areas for transformation are: customer experience (54%), employee productivity (50%), business process automation (48%), delivery of new services (44%), introduction of new products (40%), software delivery (37%) and onboarding partners (22%).
The top benefit realized with transformation is improved customer satisfaction.
In the U.S., the top barrier to transformation is insufficient in-house skills, 38%.
Innovation
And finally, innovation. The report defines this as the process of becoming more data-driven, agile and flexible. It’s done by finding ways to harness the potential of data, devices and evolving customer expectations using emerging technologies.
93% of organizations are innovating.
Technology investments for innovation are led by big data analytics (41%), AI (36%), security (36%), IoT (33%) and integration platform-as-a-service (32%).
North America leads the way in innovation, at 44%.
Many organizations report challenges to innovation and see competitive risk if they don’t. Fifty-five percent report they’re struggling to modernize, transform and innovate fast enough. Fifty-one percent say they’ll be unable to compete in their vertical industry if they don’t improve their efforts. Thirty-eight percent believe senior leadership is ill-equipped to oversee their modernization, transformation and innovation initiatives .
Innovation comes from the top down. It’s the CEO for 65%, the CIO for 58% and/or department heads for 54%. Compare that to the workforce as a whole at 12% or junior management at 8%.
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