Board directors struggling to achieve digital goals

Just 35% of board directors have achieved or are on track to achieving their digital transformation goals, new research from Gartner suggests.

A survey conducted by the research firm found that 89% of board directors say they have embedded digital into all business growth strategies.

But while CIOs have made significant progress embracing technology to improve business operations, this alone is not enough to realise the strategic business benefits that boards of directors are looking for from digital investments, the research found.

Gartner VP and Team Manager Brian Ferreira said ANZ businesses are often lagging behind their international rivals in this respect.

“Both enterprise and government organisations in ANZ are committed to digital and the increased risk appetite is noticeable. However, execution complexities and solid business cases still hold back their performance amongst global peers,” he said.

“Boards in ANZ have quickly caught up with digital thinking and incorporated it with business strategy; however, expectations have moved faster than the ability of CEOs and CIOs to implement the changes required to scale and embed it. Key components such as culture, talent, digital leadership, investment and agile are complex strategic changes that take time to implement.”

Boards of directors cite CIOs as the primary leader responsible for driving digital business initiatives within the enterprise, ahead of the CTO and CIO, the survey found.

Meanwhile, the top three technologies considered imperative to digital business success include AI and machine learning (cited by 40% of respondents), software enhancement (30%), and data and analytics (28%).

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