The leadership behind digital transformation projects is in crisis, with many senior executives stating that their companies are not successfully executing against 50% of strategies.
That’s according to a Wipro Digital study of 400 US senior-level executives regarding the stage of digital transformation strategies in their organisations.
The report found that 91 percent of executives believe their company is clear on the definition of digital transformation, however, 1 in 4 executives say there is a lack of knowledge as to what it actually means, which is what is recognised as an obstacle to the company’s success.
Also relating to this, 35 percent of executives confirmed that the issue of not having a clear transformation strategy in the organisation is a noticeable barrier to achieving its full digital potential.
Some senior executives even admitted to seeing digital transformation in their company as a waste of time due to a shortage of digital investment, which many executives say has taken their company almost three years to see even half of the investments made rise to fruition.
Read more: Digital Transformation: plugging the skills gap
Rajan Kohli, SVP and Global Head, Wipro Digital said: “Digital transformation efforts are coming up short on intended ROI, in part because digital transformation is as much a leadership issue as it is a strategy, technology, culture and talent issue.
“Real transformation occurs when courageous leaders align goals in practice as well as theory, manage opportunity more than risk, and prioritise the future vs retrofit the present.”
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Company leaders like CEOs, CTOs and CIOs are usually the ones to deliver digital transformation strategies but it was found that the rise of leadership mindset and skill challenges, paired with feeling overwhelmed by digital complexity are the top obstacles that prevent a company from achieving its full digital potential.
According to the study, CMOs are spending a lot on IT but out of any senior executive they are least likely to drive digital transformation strategies.
Gartner previously predicted that CMOs will spend more on technology than CIOs in 2017, to which they found that marketing leaders allocated 3.24 percent of business revenue from technology spending in 2016.
