New Study: 75% of C-Level Execs Admit Being Unprepared for 2015. $85 Million Lost Last Year

"The C-level executives admitted that digital transformation is touching all aspects of organizations, from customer service, sales and business development through to innovation, product development and talent attraction," according to a recent ComputerWeekly article on the survey.

$85 million lost, and counting

According to the study, which was conducted among 950 CIOs and CFOs in the U.K., survey respondents estimated their businesses missed out on the equivalent of $85 million in revenues last year due to a lack of strategy and infrastructure in place to support digital transformation and meet the demands of today's new class of ultra-connected customer.

The large majority of respondents also reported a belief that their businesses will become uncompetitive as early as 2015 because their existing technology infrastructures are incapable of supporting the digital transformation.

Additionally, over a third of the CIOs surveyed admitted that if their IT departments were not able to modernize IT effectively in the next 12 months it would lead to:

• reduced staff productivity (38%)
  
  
• increased time to market (34%)
  
  
• reduced ability to service customers in new ways (33%)
  
  
• a risk of data theft occurring (35%)
  
  
• limitations on their company’s ability to launch new products and services (35%).  

Jacques Pommeraud, CEO of cloud provider Canopy, in speaking about the results of the survey stated:

As the survey highlights, digital must be in the DNA of every department to help the business take market share and maximize revenue. From hospitality and retail, through to manufacturing, we see that those emerging as winners are taking advantage of digital capabilities and innovation to build entirely new revenue stream. We also observe that our most innovative customers have achieved a sharp gain in agility and the ability to refocus resources away from internal IT and towards growth. While “digital” is a widespread term today, right now digital transformation is only happening in pockets and is proving elusive for many global enterprises.”

We echo Pommeraud's view that digital innovation isn't a luxury but a necessity. Is digital transformation a part of your team's DNA?