CA Technologies unveiled an Asia Pacific & Japan (APJ) study that showed the need for digital transformation has reached a critical level.
Eighty percent of business and IT leaders surveyed agreed that their industries have been impacted by digital disruption. However, most organizations are lagging when it comes to staying relevant and competitive in this digital economy as only 17 percent surveyed have fully-formed digital transformation strategies.
The CA Technologies Asia Pacific & Japan Digital Transformation Impact and Readiness Study, which was carried out in late 2017, examined the digital transformation strategies of 900 business and IT leaders across nine APJ markets: Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea and Thailand.
According to the survey findings, 78 percent of respondents felt that their organizations have been impacted by digital disruption. Similarly, 78 percent of respondents felt that their jobs have been changed due to digital disruption. The majority also agreed that these changes will be augmented in the next three to five years.
Mismatched Pressures and Priorities for Digital Transformation in APJ
In a new world that is defined by digital engagement, the competitive differentiation for organizations, and even governments, is increasingly determined by their ability to transform themselves digitally and build software into their business strategies.
The survey found that fast evolving economic conditions, meeting of changing customer expectations and using digital transformation as a new edge in winning against traditional competitors were listed as the biggest pressures for digital transformation in the region.
However, only 17 percent have fully-formed digital transformation strategies, and only 9 percent are looking at fully digitizing their entire organizations. While just a little over half (51 percent) of the organizations surveyed have launched digital transformation projects with clear corporate goals, such as increasing productivity and boosting revenue.
This finding mirrors the top three business priorities that organizations in APJ are focused on solving today, namely optimizing operational efficiency, improving workforce collaboration, and reducing operational costs.
According to the findings, priorities such as creating different business models and/or revenue streams; developing new products and services; improving customer experience; and attracting and retaining workforce are deemed to be less important. This demonstrates a clear misalignment between the business priorities that leaders are focused on achieving today and the top pressures that are driving their organizations’ digital transformation journey.
The discrepancy between business priorities and the pressure to change is particularly evident when it comes to customer experience. Although changing customer expectations is highlighted as one of the main drivers for digital transformation, improving customer experience has been ranked sixth out of the seven priorities.
“In an era where brands are defined by the digital experiences they offer, it is imperative that companies put customers at the heart of their business,” said Martin Mackay, president and general manager, Asia Pacific & Japan, CA Technologies. “When software is built into their business strategies, organizations will be able to deliver an enhanced customer experience; and have the insights and tools to shape and predict new customer demands, create new services, revenue streams and business models.”
“To thrive in the application economy, organizations need to move IT, especially software, from a supporting role to a central enabler by reinventing their software development and delivery processes so that they can consistently develop high quality applications that can enhance customer experience and deliver business value at scale,” added Mackay. “In short, organizations need to build a Modern Software Factory where agility, automation, insights and security work together to power their digital transformation.”
