85% of organisations not digitally optimised

DIGITAL Transformation Services specialist ActionPoint, A Viatel Technology Group Company, has published its second consecutive Digital Transformation Index Report.

The report, which takes an in-depth look at the current state of digital maturity in Ireland, will allow business leaders to benchmark their organisations to identify blind spots and potential opportunities to respond to the developments and shifting trends of technology.

While the Covid-19 pandemic moved into the rear-view mirror in 2022, it has had a lasting impact on how organisations work, and how they embrace technology to improve performance.

The report highlights that there is a risk that attitudes towards technology and digital capability regress to pre-pandemic levels.

The report is based on data gathered from 405 (234 Irish-based, 171 International) respondents from across 18 industries; who completed the ActionPoint Digital Maturity self-assessment, which focuses on six predefined pillars of an organisation’s overall digital maturity, giving them an insight into where they are leading, lagging, and how they’re doing overall. Organisations from manufacturing, retail, and technology make up 42% of survey respondents, and 57% of respondents analysed were board members, director owners, C-Level, VP, or senior managers.

Findings show that 85% of respondents are not digitally optimised or strategic, which shows a huge opportunity for businesses to better leverage digital technologies. However, the report shows a 30% increase in low-code and no-code technology adoption year on year.

No-code development is a type of web development that allows non-programmers and programmers to create software using a graphical user interface, instead of writing code.

Almost three in four organisations cite productivity and efficiency as a key reason behind technology adoption; while competitive advantage ranks second in this list at 63%.

While 70% of companies surveyed consider digital fundamental to their business strategy; less than one in three organisations (32%) have a digital training plan and budget in place; with just 27% considering development of digital skills during performance reviews.

David Jeffreys, CEO, ActionPoint explains “Our businesses are now faced with different economic challenges; we have high levels of inflation, Covid impacted supply chains, increasing input prices, and high levels of salary inflation; along with the continued challenges of managing a distributed workforce.”

Adoption of HR Management Systems has increased 16% year on year, indicating the growing importance of EX (employee experience). Another key factor in adopting such systems is a renewed focus on managing the remote workforce more efficiently. And with Hybrid working here to stay, 57% of organisations are sticking to collaboration tools like Teams and Zoom, with the uptake remaining close to 2021 levels.

Risk and Compliance received the highest self-assessment score, pointing to a wide understanding of the critical nature of data and information security.

65% of organisations have indicated digital still remains a priority in the marketing of products and services.

For more information on ActionPoint’s work in Digital Transformation, visit www.actionpoint.ie/digital-transformation.