Business leaders have revealed that they expect to see a 17% return on investment (ROI) from digitally transforming their company over the next 12 months, according to research by Avanade.
Some 92% of respondents said digital transformation was in their top three priorities. However 43% said they were suffering with ‘digital transformation fatigue’ to the detriment of their progress.
There were a number of areas of digital transformation that leaders were struggling with. These included making informed decisions (80%), hiring and training people with the right skills (46%), integrating old and new tech (40%), and modernising legacy systems (35%).
The motivation behind digital transformation was largely connected to innovation, efficiency and customer experience.
Within this, artificial intelligence (AI) was a big focus. Some 84% recognised that they needed to invest in AI alongside refreshing their business apps to be successful. Another 78% also acknowledged AI is often adopted without consideration of integration, while 85% said integration between AI, data sources, and business systems could be better.
Simon Thomas, global data and AI lead for Avanade, said: “The key to delighted customers is to make AI part of the enterprise DNA, and indigenous to the digital transformation. This enables the organisation to be more successful and the employees to be more productive and effective.”
Gord Mawhinney, global business applications lead for Avanade, added: “Avanade has identified three key dimensions which we believe organisations must address to successfully complete their digital transformation: innovation, efficiencies and experiences. Those businesses that achieve maturity across all three will reap the greatest returns. The findings from our research echo this.”
The research – commissioned by Avanade and conducted by Vanson Bourne – surveyed 1150 senior decision-makers from Europe, North America, and Asia Pacific.
