Three-quarters of CFOs believe their businesses are losing revenue because they lack the right cloud applications.
Of those, 70% fear their firm will become uncompetitive, with most estimating that could happen as soon as the end of 2015, according to the Canopy-sponsored survey of 950 CFOs, CIOs and business decision makers.
Cloud service provider Canopy, a joint venture between Atos, EMC and VMware, claimed the findings show digital transformation is hitting all aspects of an organisation, from customer service to talent scouting and product development.
CEO Jacques Pommeraud said: "Digital must be in the DNA of every department to help the business take market share and maximise revenue.
"While "digital" is a widespread term today, right now digital transformation is only happening in pockets and is proving elusive for many global enterprises.
"The most innovative clients use the power of cloud and large scale analytics to generate new sources of revenue for example in manufacturing for the area of preventative maintenance."
Despite 90% of those surveyed acknowledging the potential of cloud, two-thirds admitted to a lack of investment in the technology, recognising this was preventing digital innovation.
However, they also cited widely-recognised barriers to adoption including security, mentioned by 50%, and data protection, at 44%, as well as a quarter citing fears of vendor lock-in and IP protection concerns.
Meanwhile one-third of CIOs predicted a lack of cloud investment would result in reduced productivity and a risk of data theft.
