Digital transformation schemes have been put on hold by the majority of UK-based businesses despite its importance for supporting remote working schemes and advanced tech that will shape the workforce during the next decade.
A new report published by Global Data Centers found companies are finding it difficult to untangle a web of multi-cloud services and online tech.
While cloud computing has helped many companies to improve the quality and efficiency of core operations, the disparate use of providers and services has created an additional major barrier that leaders are struggling to overcome.
Any failure to deploy digital transformation has been brought into sharp focus by the global pandemic which has forced companies to rely on digital infrastructures and tech for even the most basic day to day processes.
The report did not cover the potential impact of Covid-19 but the findings are worrying as companies that have failed to digitally transform may find it much more difficult to adapt and change amid a real world crisis.
A quarter of the respondents said their IT team’s time and resources are often wasted in attempts to get digital transformation projects up and running.
The stop start nature of these projects costs a business a staggering $2.48m every single year.
It does not appear to be for the want of trying either as projects are often greenlit with the goal of deploying new tech that could transform business prospects.
Many say cutting edge tech like artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things (IoT) and software-defined networking (SDN) is being used.
However, 50% say projects are either “regularly” or “always” delayed, which is setting businesses back and wasting time and energy.
Two-thirds of businesses say they are now “heavily reliant” on a wide range of cloud services but that this is increasing the difficulty of integration.
Global Data Centers CSO, John Eland says connecting the dots between multi-cloud services and other tech is not easy and is one of the main reasons why transformation projects are not getting off the ground.
He added: “Adding further strain, there’s the risk that even just a Proof of Concept could have a negative impact on live production systems, leading to service failures that result in reputational or revenue damage.”
Eland believes all of these problems has created a phenomenon known as the “hesitancy gap”.
This is where IT teams are so focused on keeping everything in order that they forget to embrace new projects that can drive innovation.
As businesses try to make sense of a post-pandemic world, reducing this hesitancy gap and embracing digital transformation will be key to not only surviving but gaining an edge on competitors.
A couple of other findings from the report include the fact that UK enterprises delay transformation by nine months on average if they decide that they don’t have the time to build the right infrastructure to support.
The vast majority (94%) also say the only way to be truly “supercharged” in transformation is through the deployment of multi-cloud partners, services and connections without the need to bring it all together internally.
