ANZ businesses unprepared for digital transformation

Only half of senior business decision-makers in Australia and New Zealand have a strategy for digital transformation, even though 81% expect it to play a key role in their market, according to a survey from IFS.

The enterprise applications company polled business leaders across a number of industries, including industrial manufacturing, construction, retail, oil and gas, automotive, energy and utilities.

The survey indicates that ANZ business decision makers generally feel unprepared for the digital revolution, with 72% indicating that they need more information about digital transformation.

“I was surprised that only 50% of respondents in Australia/NZ said they had a clear strategy for digital transformation — less than any other region surveyed, including ASEAN, Benelux, Brazil, China, Finland, Poland, Scandinavia and the US,” IFS Australia and New Zealand managing director Rob Stummer commented.

“We see tremendous innovation in a range of local industries, but the question is, is it enough to remain globally competitive in this era of disruptive change?”

The survey shows that 56% of Australian respondents feel that the CFO is responsible for driving digital transformation. The CIO (31%) and CEO (31%) are also thought to be influential in this area, while the CTO and CMO are not considered to have much influence.

But despite this perception, when C-suite leaders are asked who within their organisation owns digital transformation, they often name themselves.

Australian respondents consider cloud computing to be the technology most important to driving digital transformation, followed by the IoT and cognitive computing. This is in line with the global results.

Image courtesy of Bryan Mathers under CC