Published on the 08/09/2015 | Written by Beverley Head
A widening gap is opening between digital leaders and digital laggards with 32 percent of medium to large scale organisations now having a digital business up and running…
Gartner has surveyed executives in the US, UK, Germany and Australia about their approach to digital business. A year ago, 22 percent said they had a digital business up and running, that has now increased to 32 percent.
The analyst firm defines digital business as the creation of new business designs. “They not only connect people and businesses, but also connect people and businesses with things to drive revenue and efficiency. Digital business helps to eliminate barriers that now exist among industry segments, while creating new value chains and business opportunities that traditional businesses cannot offer.”
Interestingly the survey revealed that most companies now engaged on digital business initiatives don’t distinguish between digital business strategies and overall business strategies whereas those organisations which are still in the planning phase do see the two as separate.
Gartner says that the top priority for digital business front-runners is adopting new technology (70 percent), followed by creating a highly collaborative environment (56 percent) and supporting customer-driven technology change (53 percent).
Vice president and analyst Jorge Lopez said that; “The disruptive effects of digital business cannot be underestimated. To date, a limited number of product categories — music, books, photographs and newspapers — have seen their business models upended.
“Going forward, organisational leaders in other product and service categories will also need to adapt by restructuring the workforce, eliminating obsolete roles, and finding talent that can help design systems and workflows that optimise the use of things integrated with people and business to drive new value for customers.”
Citizens as well as customers can benefit from digital business models when Governments make the transition. Deloitte recently conducted analysis of the 811 million transactions made at Australia’s Federal and State levels and found that around 40 percent still relied on traditional channels.
It said that if that could be reduced to 20 percent over a decade, benefits worth $26.6 billion could be realised for an ICT investment of $6.1 billion which no doubt is music to the ears of the Government’s Digital Transformation Office.
