AU businesses still not realising value from tech investments

A new global study from Cognizant shows Australian organisations are failing to realise potential from tech investments due to gaps in business goals and strategies, the company said.

Two thousand senior execs across 10 countries throughout North America and Europe (including 400 in Australia) were asked to assess and compare businesses across a range of metrics. The findings included the following insights:

• Australia ranks below the global average in terms of technology and innovative ability due to failure in linking tech investments to overarching business goals and clear metrics, and failure to prioritise data-driven and tech implementation strategies.
• Lack of digital focus leaves Australia behind. 70% of Australian organisations do not consider a digital-first business model to be business-critical, compared to the average of 62% globally.
• Workforce and talent management strategies need a major overhaul to reskill workforces to address productivity gaps. 90% of Australian businesses are unaware if they have access to the talent they need to implement and utilise advanced technologies (low code/no code, advanced cloud), nearly half (49%) claimed they are not achieving greater workforce productivity in spite of technology investments.
• Business resilience is at risk for companies that recognise ESG as a critical consideration but fail to take action to integrate ESG throughout the organisation. 85% of decision-makers recognise ESG issues are important aspects of being a modern business. However, there is a massive disconnect between intent and action, with only 31% having dedicated staff and resources devoted to ESG, and only 38% in Australia incorporating ESG into company strategy.
   

“After analysing the findings, we can see that business leaders in Australia face major challenges in becoming a modern future-ready business,” said George Evans, Head of Consulting at Cognizant in Australia and New Zealand.

“Businesses will need to modernise business operations and evolve their business models as well as their technology. They also need to overcome the talent challenge to ensure they can unlock true value from their tech investments in terms of productivity. We believe this also means there is a real opportunity around ESG to create significant business value if businesses align their priorities,” Evans said.

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