In 1987, Nobel Prize winner Robert Solow famously said, "You can see the computer age everywhere but in the productivity statistics." That's just as apt today as it was then, with increasing evidence demonstrating a direct correlation between productivity and digital transformation.
George Westerman, MIT principal research scientist and author of Leading Digital: Turning Technology Into Business Transformation, believes that digital transformation demonstrates a rethinking of how businesses can use technology, people, and processes to improve business performance and staff productivity. Another study found that 77.3 percent of Fortune 500 CIOs named digital transformation as their biggest budget priority in 2021.
However, digital transformation is not without its challenges. A PwC study found that 45% of CXOs believe that their companies don’t have the right technology or resources to support digital transformation, and that less than 30% of their technology vendors are able to support this kind of initiative. That was in 2018. In 2020, Dell Digital Transformation Index 2020 takes that figure down to 20%. In a nutshell? One in five organisations don’t believe they have the right partner ecosystems to enable transformative success.
Obviously, Covid-19 has caused major challenges for all organisations, and on a global scale. However, digital transformation was disrupting business models before the pandemic hit, and one of the main reasons was because of the need to improve productivity within organisations of all shapes and sizes. Technological shortcomings were often found to be a root cause, including:
The digitisation of business operations is becoming increasingly critical. Most organisations are already on the path to digitisation and are seeing productivity gains as a result, but there’s much more that can be done.
It's important to remember that the productivity impact of digital transformation extends to employees, suppliers, and customers. In other words, digital transformation is only effective if it empowers employees with the tools they need to work together and succeed. Every employee wants to be empowered, engaged, productive, and successful at work, but too often they believe that their organisation's digital culture is aimed at increasing revenue rather than employee engagement and agility. The reality is that a real, genuine digital culture — a mix of people, technology, and practise — will improve efficiency, optimise performance, enhance productivity, and create harmonious working environments.
It's with that in mind that, in collaboration with our partner Lenovo, we've developed a new eBook, Practical pointers for solving the productivity challenge. It's aimed at helping organisations to efficiently bridge the productivity gap.
Technological shortcomings are a contributor to productivity loss, meaning that the digitisation of business operations is becoming increasingly critical. The eBook covers these key areas:
Accelerating your digital transformation journey by leveraging technology can help your business bridge the productivity gap and get everyone on your team working smarter and more efficiently. At SCCS, we’re on the journey with you from beginning to end, and our goals are aligned with yours – to enhance productivity in your organisation through digital transformation and a thorough understanding of your business requirements.
Download Practical pointers for solving the productivity challenge to learn more about how getting started on your digital transformation journey will boost productivity in your organisation.