Dell Technologies’ third biennial Digital Transformation Index details how organisations are accelerating digital transformation projects amidst unprecedented uncertainty; 4,300 business leaders in 18 countries weigh in 

Story Highlights 

·       Digital transformation seen as critical business driver for recovery  

·       72 percent of organisations in the UK have fast-tracked some digital transformation programs this year. This is compared to 75 percent of organisations across Europe and 80 percent globally 

·       Data privacy and cybersecurity concerns, limited resources and difficulty extracting insights from data identified as barriers to Digital Transformation  

·       Complete results can be found at: https://DellTechnologies.com/DTIndex  

Full story 

Dell Technologies today released results from a global study that shows organisations are shifting their digital transformation programmes into high gear and are on the path to accomplish in a few months what would normally havetaken them years. The findings, updated biennially in the Dell Technologies’ Digital Transformation Index (DT Index), indicate organisations are accelerating transformational technology programs during the global COVID-19 pandemic. 

In one of the first global studies to measure business behaviour because of the pandemic, Dell’s 2020 Index found that seven in 10 organisations (72 percent) in the UK have fast-tracked some digital transformation programs this year. This is compared to 80 percent globally and 75 percent across Europe. In addition, 72 percent of UK organisations are re-inventing their business model.  

The DT Index is a global benchmark indicating organisations’ status of digital transformation and their performance across the globe. The survey included 4,300 business leaders (C-suite to Director) from mid-size to enterprise companies across 18 countries. 

A new digital transformation curve 

This year’s results sets the number of UK Digital Leaders (the most digitally mature organisation) to five percent. Digital Adopters (the second most digitally mature group) has grown from 22 percent in 2018 to 32 percent in 2020 – a 10-percentage point increase. 

The DT Index also records a modest drop since 2018 in the number of Digital Laggards (the least digitally mature group) by one percentage point, and a steep fall in the second to last group, Digital Followers, by 17-percentage points. These organisations are moving up, into the Digital Adopter and Digital Evaluator groups, which have expanded in tandem. 

“We’ve been given a glimpse of the future, and the organisations that are accelerating their digital transformation now will be poised for success in the Data Era that is unfolding before our eyes”, says Michael Dell, Chairman and CEO, Dell Technologies.  

Using a curve visual, the DT Index plots digital transformation progress, from one wave of the DT Index to the next. 

Barriers to transformation 

The pandemic may have catalysed digital transformation across the globe, but continuous transformation is challenging: 94 percent of organisations in the UK are facing entrenched barriers to transformation. According to the 2020 DT Index, the following are the top-3 barriers to digital transformation success in the UK: 

·       Lack of budget and resources (#1 in 2016, #1 in 2018) 

·       Data privacy and cybersecurity concerns (up from #4 in 2016, #2 in 2018) 

·       Unable to extract insights from data and data overload (up from #11 in 2016, #3 in 2018) 

Responding in an uncertain world   

Prior to the pandemic, business investments were strongly focused on foundational technologies, rather than emerging technologies. The vast majority in the UK, 89 percent, recognise that as a result of disruption this year, they need a more agile/scalable IT infrastructure to allow for contingencies. The DT Index shows the top technology investments for the next one to three years in the UK: 

·       Cybersecurity 

·       Data management tools  

·       Hybrid-Cloud environment 

·       Privacy software 

·       Software: containers and serverless 

And recognising the importance of emerging technologies, 78 percent of UK respondents envision increased usage of Augmented Reality to learn how to do or fix things in an instant; 81 percent foresee organisations using Artificial Intelligence and data models to predict potential disruptions, and 70 percent predict distributed ledgers - such as Blockchain - will make the gig economy fairer (by cutting out the intermediary). Despite these findings, only 10 percent are planning to invest in Virtual/Augmented Reality, just 28 percent intend to invest in Artificial Intelligence and a mere 11 percent plan to invest in distributed ledgers in the next one to three years.  

Research methodology 

During July and August of 2020,Dell Technologies partnered with independent research companyVanson Bourne who surveyed 4,300 business leaders from mid-size to enterprise organisations across 18 countries, to create a global benchmark indicating businesses’ status of transformation. Vanson Bourneclassified businesses' digital business efforts by examining their IT strategy, workforce transformation initiatives and perceived performance against a core set of digital business attributes. This is the third instalment of the DT Index (the inaugural study in 2016 was followed by the second DT Index in 2018).