A lack of a systematic approach to implementing and executing digital change is damaging customer relationships with brands, as businesses fail to deliver on changing expectations.
This is the key finding of research commissioned by Infosys and conducted by Forrester Consulting, which surveyed business and IT decision-makers across the US, the UK, France and Germany.
While 70 per cent of executives viewed improved customer experience as their top priority in 2015, customers’ perception of their experience of over 170 brands declined by almost 20 per cent in the same year.
Almost two-thirds of survey participants say the reason for this disconnect is that their organisations lack both strategic planning and the expertise to execute successful digital change. Only 31 per cent believe that they have a digital strategy in place, with just about 9 per cent observing that they are truly differentiated by their digital maturity.
“The true power of being digital lies in its ability to amplify human potential; enabling mundane and routine tasks to be automated and freeing businesses to pursue new ideas,” said Ravi Kumar, executive vice president and head of global delivery, Infosys.
“In this context, the findings of the study validate our conviction that digital transformation is a continuum where enterprise efficiency is the goal at one end, and better customer experience at the other. The opportunity of our times, therefore, lies in taking a systematic approach to digital initiatives – augmenting individual talent and collective capability.”
Organisations that do have a systematic approach to digital transformation, rather than an ad hoc one, are likely to invest more in the process.
Seventy-nine per cent of enterprises that have a systematic approach in place are investing 5-15 per cent of revenues in digital initiatives, while 35 per cent of them are investing between 10-15 per cent. In contrast, just 11 per cent of firms with an ad hoc approach to digital invest at the same level.
The study showed organisations are looking to make focused digital investments in order to meet changing customer expectations. Sixty-one per cent of respondents believe that they will change current business models, while 68 per cent intend to create direct customer-centric structures to quickly adapt to changing customer behaviour.
The top three priorities for the next 12 months are improving products and services through digitisation (47 per cent), improving operational efficiencies (47 per cent), and improving customer experience (42 per cent).
From a functional perspective, operations, IT and marketing are seen as best placed to benefit from digital transformation, while simplifying the supply chain (68 per cent) and moving from a product to service-based customer relationship model (56 per cent) are among the top planned initiatives to achieve operational efficiency.
When it comes to the components seen as crucial for a successful digital strategy, investing in mobility (67 per cent) and cross-channel customer experience (60 per cent) topped the list.
For a full copy of the study, visit www.infosys.com/bedigital.
