Skip to main content

Companies Embrace Digital Business Transformation Across Technology, Culture and Responsibilities

Organizations are embracing digital transformation, as 89% have plans to adopt or have already adopted a digital-first business strategy, according to the 2018 IDG Digital Business Survey.

The survey findings show that 28% are still in the development phase – creating strategies, evaluating technologies and organizational changes.

When embracing new technologies or strategies, many factors can come into play. For digital transformation, how long an organization has been established impacts adoption. 87% of well-established companies (established more than 50 years ago) have digital business plans compared to 95% of start-ups (established within 10 years) – and 55% of start-ups have already adopted a strategy, while only 38% of traditional companies have achieved this level. Reasons for this difference are likely due to challenges integrating technology with legacy systems and breaking the mold of company culture.

Technologies & Strategies Driving the Transition

Organizations are turning to digital-first business solutions to improve multiple parts of the business, from enhancing process efficiency through automation, to creating a better customer experience and improving employee productivity.

So far, organizations have adopted data/analytics (59%), mobile technology (59%) and private cloud (53%) to help meet these goals.

However, to get to the next level, organizations are actively researching or piloting artificial intelligence (56%), machine learning (55%), and Internet of Things (50%) – technologies that are also more sought out by start-ups. Digital business adoption requires more than just the latest technology. Organizations also need to implement process and cultural changes such as a data security/protection strategy, IT skills assessment, and a workforce strategy to determine roles and responsibilities.

“Technology has been a driving force in business transformation for years, but the pace at which new technologies are launching has reached its fastest speed. Now is the time to create efficiencies and differentiate through the customer experience,” said Brian Glynn, Chief Revenue Officer, IDG Communications, Inc. “Organizations are doing more than simply adopting new technologies, they are adapting culture, while determining roles and responsibilities for this next era of business growth.”

IT Leadership Through the Digital Business Journey

Half of organizations (54%) state that funding for digital-first initiatives is a part of the existing IT budget and only 6% say it’s a separate budget living outside of IT. This ownership relates to who are involved in each phase of the journey. The research finds that the CIO leads each aspect of an organization’s transition to a digital business, including IT skills assessment, workforce strategy, and data management strategy. Other roles that emerge as key influencers throughout include the IT architect, CEO and CTO.

While implementing digital-first strategies, these individuals also determine success metrics once a digital business strategy is in place. The measures of success that are highly valued include excellent customer service measured by customer satisfaction scores, improved process efficiency through automation, and improved employee productivity.

How are organizations working to enhance their customer experience? The top tools being actively researched or piloted include:

■ Personalization/contextualization of customer interactions – 50%

■ Real-time capture of customer feedback – 49%

■ Improving access to knowledge sharing of products/services – 49%

Unlike other areas where IDG notices differences between well-established organizations and start-ups, these tools are being researched almost equally across both maturity levels of companies – which may be because start-ups have the structure to be nimble and established organizations have deep pockets. With these tools/approaches in the works to enhance customer experience, combined with the strategies and technologies that fuel digital business, organizations are on the path to digital business success.

About the 2018 IDG Digital Business Research

IDG’s 2018 Digital Business survey was conducted among the audiences of six IDG brands (CIO, Computerworld, CSO, InfoWorld, ITworld, and Network World) representing IT and security decision-makers within organizations that have plans to adopt/or already launched a “digital-first” approach. The survey was fielded online with the objective to gain a better understanding of how organizations are evolving to a digital business model. Results in this release are based on 628 respondents across multiple industries.

The Latest

Industry experts offer predictions on how AI will evolve and impact technology and business in 2025. Part 2 covers the challenges presented by AI, as well as solutions to those problems ...

In the final part of APMdigest's 2025 Predictions Series, industry experts offer predictions on how AI will evolve and impact technology and business in 2025 ...

E-commerce is set to skyrocket with a 9% rise over the next few years ... To thrive in this competitive environment, retailers must identify digital resilience as their top priority. In a world where savvy shoppers expect 24/7 access to online deals and experiences, any unexpected downtime to digital services can lead to significant financial losses, damage to brand reputation, abandoned carts with designer shoes, and additional issues ...

Efficiency is a highly-desirable objective in business ... We're seeing this scenario play out in enterprises around the world as they continue to struggle with infrastructures and remote work models with an eye toward operational efficiencies. In contrast to that goal, a recent Broadcom survey of global IT and network professionals found widespread adoption of these strategies is making the network more complex and hampering observability, leading to uptime, performance and security issues. Let's look more closely at these challenges ...

Image
Broadcom

The 2025 Catchpoint SRE Report dives into the forces transforming the SRE landscape, exploring both the challenges and opportunities ahead. Let's break down the key findings and what they mean for SRE professionals and the businesses relying on them ...

Image
Catchpoint

The pressure on IT teams has never been greater. As data environments grow increasingly complex, resource shortages are emerging as a major obstacle for IT leaders striving to meet the demands of modern infrastructure management ... According to DataStrike's newly released 2025 Data Infrastructure Survey Report, more than half (54%) of IT leaders cite resource limitations as a top challenge, highlighting a growing trend toward outsourcing as a solution ...

Image
Datastrike

Gartner revealed its top strategic predictions for 2025 and beyond. Gartner's top predictions explore how generative AI (GenAI) is affecting areas where most would assume only humans can have lasting impact ...

The adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) is accelerating across the telecoms industry, with 88% of fixed broadband service providers now investigating or trialing AI automation to enhance their fixed broadband services, according to new research from Incognito Software Systems and Omdia ...

 

AWS is a cloud-based computing platform known for its reliability, scalability, and flexibility. However, as helpful as its comprehensive infrastructure is, disparate elements and numerous siloed components make it difficult for admins to visualize the cloud performance in detail. It requires meticulous monitoring techniques and deep visibility to understand cloud performance and analyze operational efficiency in detail to ensure seamless cloud operations ...

Imagine a future where software, once a complex obstacle, becomes a natural extension of daily workflow — an intuitive, seamless experience that maximizes productivity and efficiency. This future is no longer a distant vision but a reality being crafted by the transformative power of Artificial Intelligence ...

Companies Embrace Digital Business Transformation Across Technology, Culture and Responsibilities

Organizations are embracing digital transformation, as 89% have plans to adopt or have already adopted a digital-first business strategy, according to the 2018 IDG Digital Business Survey.

The survey findings show that 28% are still in the development phase – creating strategies, evaluating technologies and organizational changes.

When embracing new technologies or strategies, many factors can come into play. For digital transformation, how long an organization has been established impacts adoption. 87% of well-established companies (established more than 50 years ago) have digital business plans compared to 95% of start-ups (established within 10 years) – and 55% of start-ups have already adopted a strategy, while only 38% of traditional companies have achieved this level. Reasons for this difference are likely due to challenges integrating technology with legacy systems and breaking the mold of company culture.

Technologies & Strategies Driving the Transition

Organizations are turning to digital-first business solutions to improve multiple parts of the business, from enhancing process efficiency through automation, to creating a better customer experience and improving employee productivity.

So far, organizations have adopted data/analytics (59%), mobile technology (59%) and private cloud (53%) to help meet these goals.

However, to get to the next level, organizations are actively researching or piloting artificial intelligence (56%), machine learning (55%), and Internet of Things (50%) – technologies that are also more sought out by start-ups. Digital business adoption requires more than just the latest technology. Organizations also need to implement process and cultural changes such as a data security/protection strategy, IT skills assessment, and a workforce strategy to determine roles and responsibilities.

“Technology has been a driving force in business transformation for years, but the pace at which new technologies are launching has reached its fastest speed. Now is the time to create efficiencies and differentiate through the customer experience,” said Brian Glynn, Chief Revenue Officer, IDG Communications, Inc. “Organizations are doing more than simply adopting new technologies, they are adapting culture, while determining roles and responsibilities for this next era of business growth.”

IT Leadership Through the Digital Business Journey

Half of organizations (54%) state that funding for digital-first initiatives is a part of the existing IT budget and only 6% say it’s a separate budget living outside of IT. This ownership relates to who are involved in each phase of the journey. The research finds that the CIO leads each aspect of an organization’s transition to a digital business, including IT skills assessment, workforce strategy, and data management strategy. Other roles that emerge as key influencers throughout include the IT architect, CEO and CTO.

While implementing digital-first strategies, these individuals also determine success metrics once a digital business strategy is in place. The measures of success that are highly valued include excellent customer service measured by customer satisfaction scores, improved process efficiency through automation, and improved employee productivity.

How are organizations working to enhance their customer experience? The top tools being actively researched or piloted include:

■ Personalization/contextualization of customer interactions – 50%

■ Real-time capture of customer feedback – 49%

■ Improving access to knowledge sharing of products/services – 49%

Unlike other areas where IDG notices differences between well-established organizations and start-ups, these tools are being researched almost equally across both maturity levels of companies – which may be because start-ups have the structure to be nimble and established organizations have deep pockets. With these tools/approaches in the works to enhance customer experience, combined with the strategies and technologies that fuel digital business, organizations are on the path to digital business success.

About the 2018 IDG Digital Business Research

IDG’s 2018 Digital Business survey was conducted among the audiences of six IDG brands (CIO, Computerworld, CSO, InfoWorld, ITworld, and Network World) representing IT and security decision-makers within organizations that have plans to adopt/or already launched a “digital-first” approach. The survey was fielded online with the objective to gain a better understanding of how organizations are evolving to a digital business model. Results in this release are based on 628 respondents across multiple industries.

The Latest

Industry experts offer predictions on how AI will evolve and impact technology and business in 2025. Part 2 covers the challenges presented by AI, as well as solutions to those problems ...

In the final part of APMdigest's 2025 Predictions Series, industry experts offer predictions on how AI will evolve and impact technology and business in 2025 ...

E-commerce is set to skyrocket with a 9% rise over the next few years ... To thrive in this competitive environment, retailers must identify digital resilience as their top priority. In a world where savvy shoppers expect 24/7 access to online deals and experiences, any unexpected downtime to digital services can lead to significant financial losses, damage to brand reputation, abandoned carts with designer shoes, and additional issues ...

Efficiency is a highly-desirable objective in business ... We're seeing this scenario play out in enterprises around the world as they continue to struggle with infrastructures and remote work models with an eye toward operational efficiencies. In contrast to that goal, a recent Broadcom survey of global IT and network professionals found widespread adoption of these strategies is making the network more complex and hampering observability, leading to uptime, performance and security issues. Let's look more closely at these challenges ...

Image
Broadcom

The 2025 Catchpoint SRE Report dives into the forces transforming the SRE landscape, exploring both the challenges and opportunities ahead. Let's break down the key findings and what they mean for SRE professionals and the businesses relying on them ...

Image
Catchpoint

The pressure on IT teams has never been greater. As data environments grow increasingly complex, resource shortages are emerging as a major obstacle for IT leaders striving to meet the demands of modern infrastructure management ... According to DataStrike's newly released 2025 Data Infrastructure Survey Report, more than half (54%) of IT leaders cite resource limitations as a top challenge, highlighting a growing trend toward outsourcing as a solution ...

Image
Datastrike

Gartner revealed its top strategic predictions for 2025 and beyond. Gartner's top predictions explore how generative AI (GenAI) is affecting areas where most would assume only humans can have lasting impact ...

The adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) is accelerating across the telecoms industry, with 88% of fixed broadband service providers now investigating or trialing AI automation to enhance their fixed broadband services, according to new research from Incognito Software Systems and Omdia ...

 

AWS is a cloud-based computing platform known for its reliability, scalability, and flexibility. However, as helpful as its comprehensive infrastructure is, disparate elements and numerous siloed components make it difficult for admins to visualize the cloud performance in detail. It requires meticulous monitoring techniques and deep visibility to understand cloud performance and analyze operational efficiency in detail to ensure seamless cloud operations ...

Imagine a future where software, once a complex obstacle, becomes a natural extension of daily workflow — an intuitive, seamless experience that maximizes productivity and efficiency. This future is no longer a distant vision but a reality being crafted by the transformative power of Artificial Intelligence ...