After one of the most tumultuous years in a long time, it’s comforting to think that the world will summarily return to normalcy during 2021, or at least some semblance of it.
In many ways, that will happen, and hopefully it does as fast as possible. In other ways, however, a return to the status quo is less likely and also less desirable.
Put differently, what we recognize as the new normal may look quite different from the old normal. That is especially true for businesses in general and large enterprises in particular.
Through all the uncertainty and strife caused by the pandemic, one of the constants was, unsurprisingly, increasing use of digital technologies.
92% of industrial companies have already embarked on digital transformation (DX) initiatives according to a recent study by PTC, the results of which you can see in a new whitepaper titled The State of Industrial Digital Transformation.
With more than 9 out of 10 companies having these efforts underway, it’s important to be aware that they aren’t all created equal:
“….our analysis exposes critical nuances to DX strategies based on their maturity, which fall into three distinct stages: Planning, Piloting, and Rollout. The evolving mindsets for attainable value shifts for each stage from understanding where value is (planning), proving value exists or is realizable (piloting), and scaling value across the organization (rollout).
Companies at these different stages have distinct needs, project priorities, and potential blind spots. In this report, we complement data-driven insights and key takeaways from our global survey with case-study driven recommendations for each of these stages. The result is a framework for industrial organizations to use as a benchmark for where they are in their DX journey and how their priorities compare with the market.”
In addition to a detailed breakdown of the three stages mentioned above and how companies can best navigate them, The State of Industrial Digital Transformation also offers four key takeaways.
#1: DX is a million-dollar annual investment (or more) – the majority of digital transformation programs (77%) spend more than $1 million each year and 30% spend more than $5 million annually. Companies with more than $1 billion in revenue have significant DX budgets, with nearly 50% of them spending upwards of $5 million per year.
#2: C-Suite owns DX strategy and budget – Nearly 90% of respondents cite CXOs as the leaders of their digital transformation approach. A similar number of those surveyed stated CXOs are responsible for budget management as well.
#3: Goals are evenly divided between cost, growth and experience – Successful digital transformation initiatives can be graded favorably against high-level financial and operational goals but there are multiple paths to get there. Our respondents are just about equally focused on cost/efficiency, growth and quality/experience.
#4: 92% of industrial companies are on a DX journey – Where do those respondents stand? Around half of them (51%) are still evaluating or planning and the pace of adoption is picking up; by 2023, IDC predicts 75% of organizations will have a comprehensive digital transformation roadmap, up from 27% today.
To learn more about the types of companies included in PTC’s survey, the state of digital transformation for industrial enterprises, what your company should consider before undertaking a DX initiative and much more, download the full whitepaper here.
