The telecoms and banking sectors are leading the way when it comes to digital transformation, according to a study by Ovum.
The research firm’s latest ICT Enterprise Insights programme asked senior ICT executives at more than 6,300 enterprises around the world to rate their organisations against nine steps identified by Ovum as key to digital transformation. The company then created a digital maturity index, scoring the progression of each industry across the nine steps.
Although the telecoms sector was most advanced, Ovum said that the overall level of digital maturity is still low, with its index score standing at 43.9%, with banking next at 42%. Utilities (41.7%) were in third place, followed by education (41.4%), financial markets (39.6%), the retail sector (39.2%), insurance (39%), media (38.4%), healthcare (37.9%) and government (37.3%).
Overall, less than 10% of enterprises have achieved their digital transformation goals so far, while another one in six believe they are well-advanced.
Almost a quarter admit they are still at the early stages.
The research also examined the role of enabling digital technologies in the path to digital transformation, including Big Data, blockchain, Internet of Things (IoT), platform architecture/APIs, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and microservices.
Enterprises are most advanced in the adoption of Big Data and API-based architectures, with almost 40% actively trialling or deploying these areas, and just under a further 50% planning or considering doing so in the future.
Microservices and IoT are less advanced in terms of active deployment, but over 50% are planning or considering their implementation in the future. In contrast, while AI and blockchain are much discussed, far fewer enterprises are actually using such technologies.
Ovum has produced an infographic featuring the highlights of the research.
