Digital acceleration in times of COVID-19

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Recently, IBM Institute for Business Value has announced a new report that is addressing which technologies are driving growth through digital acceleration in a time of crisis.

Today, organizations need to be able to engage customers and employees in both physical and digital domains. However, current events have been challenging as industries and enterprises react and adapt.

But the present challenges also present opportunities for organizations. 60 percent of executives surveyed by the IBM Institute for Business Value (IBV) indicated that they are using this time to dramatically accelerate their company’s digital transformation. And 66% said that the pandemic has allowed them to advance specific transformation initiatives that previously had encountered resistance. Thus, the executives are clearly recognizing the necessity and opportunity to transform and are furthermore taking some vital steps.

Digital transformation and acceleration in its core are all to do with leveraging technologies to re-invent and improve your business. Most people will agree that technology is a core strategic foundation for most enterprises and can be a key determinant of organizational survival and success. So, two questions come to mind: How much of this is proving to be true during the pandemic? And which technologies make a difference between high performing and struggling businesses in this extraordinary period of crisis and change?

The technologies making the greatest impact on revenues have shifted dramatically during the pandemic.

IBM Institute for Business Value used their extensive research data combined with the latest financial performance (H1 2020) to develop a new ground-breaking approach and answer the following questions:

• Are some industries more sensitive to technology adoption than others?
• Are there some key technologies that provide greater impact on performance?
• How has the mix of differentiating technologies in each industry changed during this time of crisis?
• Does the impact of this technology mix vary by key business capabilities? What are the combinations that optimize performance returns?

Here are some of the key takeaways from the analysis across 18 industries:

• Technology adoption has become a far more important performance differentiator during the COVID-19 disruption. Tech-savvy organizations outperformed their peers by 6 percentage points on average across the 12 industries where technology acted as a performance differentiator.
• The “technology mix” recipe for success is changing. Increasingly, cloud and AI are becoming performance differentiators.
• Each industry has a unique “fingerprint.” Technologies that benefit one industry are not always as advantageous in others.

Curious to learn even more? Explore the full report to see which combination of technologies is making the biggest impact on revenues in your industry by clicking the link below:

Download the report now!

If you would like to discuss how we at IBM can help you with your digital acceleration and transformation in your business or you have any other questions, then please do not hesitate to contact me at schristoffersen@dk.ibm.com