Enterprises continue to back digital transformation

A new global study reveals that 79 percent of enterprises have made significant, transformative or even revolutionary improvements to the end user experience through digital transformation over the past year.

The research by Couchbase shows a positive outlook too, with enterprises planning to increase their investment in digital transformation by 46 percent over the next 12 months.

Interestingly 88 percent of respondents say their digital transformation projects have been driven more by changes in user behavior than by creating new business opportunities.

It's not all good news though, 81 percent of enterprises had digital transformation projects fail, suffer delays or get scaled back in the past year, at an average cost of $4.12 million. A further 82 percent were prevented from pursuing digital transformation projects that they wanted to implement due to factors such as a lack of resources or funds (26 percent), a lack of skills to deliver the project (24 percent) or the complexity of implementing technologies (23 percent).

The consequence of these failing projects meant delaying strategic goals by three months or more, or reset them completely (55 percent). Other consequences of failing to keep pace identified by respondents include losing valuable staff to more innovative competitors -- whether in IT (41 percent) or other areas of the business (40 percent); struggling to secure finance or undergo a successful IPO (31 percent); or going out of business or being absorbed by a competitor (26 percent).

"The progress in organizations' digital transformation ambitions over the past 12 months is clear, and there's a bright future ahead," says Huw Owen, EMEA vice president and general manager, at Couchbase. "Ideally we'll now begin to see enterprises putting into practice projects and ideas that weren’t previously considered possible. For this to become reality, organizations need to learn the lessons of the last two years and address the challenges they face, or a large proportion of that 46 percent increase in investment may be wasted, too. IT teams need support from across the business, together with the resources they need, and the right skills and technology to succeed. From embracing the cloud, to making the best use of data, enterprises that can make use of new technologies will be best placed to thrive."

The findings show the pandemic effect is still apparent with 99 percent of enterprises saying they've learned lessons from it. These include the importance of supporting remote and hybrid working (45 percent); the need for continuous investment and research in digital transformation technologies (41 percent); and how to better engage the wider business in digital transformation strategy (34 percent).

The full report is available on the Couchbase site.

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