The State of Digital

Business Transformation
Understanding where organizations
are in IT transformation with insight
from IDG’s 2018 Digital Business Survey

IDG Communications, Inc.

 Purpose and Methodology

SURVEY
To gain a better understanding of how organizations are evolving to a digital business model in regards
to how they are revising technology strategies, changing organizational structures and processes, and
innovating to provide a unique customer experience.

Total Respondents Digital-First Approach Average

628
All survey respondents are within Company Size

13,978 Employees
organizations that have plans to adopt/
or already launched a “digital-first”
approach.

Top Represented Industries

Collection Method Job Titles High Tech 16%
Online questionnaire Manufacturing 12%

24
IT professional
Number of 5% Financial Services 12%
8% Other
Questions Business Government/Nonprofit 10%
management
11% Services 8%
Education 8%
Audience Base 13%
63%
IT management
Healthcare 7%
CIO, Computerworld, CSO, InfoWorld, ITworld
Retail, Wholesale & Distribution 6%
and Network World tech buyer audiences via Executive IT
email promotions and communities Advertising/Marketing/PR/Media 5%

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IDG Communications, Inc. Source: 2018 IDG Digital Business Survey
 What Our Audience is Saying

49% Better manage

business performance
52% Enable through data availability
and visibility
46% Meet customer
worker productivity
through tools such as
mobile, data access, experience expectations
AI-assisted processes

Q. What does “digital business” mean to your organization?

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IDG Communications, Inc. Source: 2018 IDG Digital Business Survey
 Digital-First Business is Top of Mind
By Industry:

Services 95%

Financial Services 93%

of organizations have Healthcare 92%
adopted, or have
89% plans to adopt, a
Education 89%

“digital-first” High Tech 88%

business strategy Manufacturing 87%

Retail 86%

Government 82%

Q. To what extent has your organization adopted a “digital first” approach to business processes, operations and customer engagement today? (Response excluding “Not at all”)

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IDG Communications, Inc. Source: 2018 IDG Digital Business Survey
 Objectives Based on People & Process
Improve process efficiency through automation 64%

Create better customer experiences 58%

Improve employee productivity 50%

Drive new revenue 43%

Keep up with customer expectations 40%

Improve security 38%

Reduce complexity 36%

Stay ahead/on pace with competition 35%

Maintain overall revenue, given market shifts 17%

Improve staff retention rates and team morale 14%

Q. What are the top objectives of your organization’s digital business strategy?

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IDG Communications, Inc. Source: 2018 IDG Digital Business Survey
 AI & Machine Learning Tools Being
Eyed to Drive Digital Transformation
Artificial Intelligence (AI) 39% 17% 11% 5% 3% 27%
Machine learning 34% 21% 9% 5% 4% 27%
Internet of Things (IoT) 31% 19% 13% 9% 5% 22%
Software-defined networking (SDN) 30% 15% 14% 11% 4% 26%
AR/VR 29% 14% 7% 3% 2% 44%
Software-defined storage (SDS) 28% 16% 14% 8% 4% 29%
App performance monitoring tech (APM) 27% 16% 18% 14% 5% 20%
Bots 26% 13% 11% 5% 1% 44%
Microservices/containers 25% 15% 15% 7% 4% 33%
APIs/embeddable 22% 15% 19% 17% 4% 23%
Private cloud 20% 14% 20% 26% 7% 12%
Public cloud 20% 15% 20% 21% 4% 19%
Mobile technology 18% 18% 22% 27% 10% 6%
Big data/analytics 15% 20% 26% 24% 9% 6%

On my radar or actively researching Piloting new initiatives In production in a business unit or division In production enterprise wide Upgrading/refining Not interested

Q. Which of the following strategies or technologies is your organization currently using or planning to use in the next 12 months to become a digital business?

6
IDG Communications, Inc. Source: 2018 IDG Digital Business Survey
 Enterprises Utilizing IoT

Differences by Industry Where

61%
IoT Plays a Role In Digital Strategy
Yes
39%
Manufacturing: 73%
High Tech: 54%
24% Retail: 53%
No Services: 53%
42%
Education: 46%
Healthcare: 42%
15% Finance: 33%
Don't
know Government: 33%
20%

Enterprise SMB
Q. Does or will the Internet of Things (IoT) play a role in your organization’s digital business strategy?

7
IDG Communications, Inc. Source: 2018 IDG Digital Business Survey
 Understand the Voice of the Customer
to Better Their Experience
Real-time capture of customer feedback 28% 21% 19% 11% 5% 17%

Personalization/contextualization of customer
28% 22% 17% 7% 5% 21%
interactions

Omni-channel strategy 24% 15% 12% 7% 4% 37%

Improved UX 23% 21% 16% 8% 8% 23%

Providing ways to access information securely from 20%

22% 21% 21% 9% 7%
anywhere
Improving access to knowledge sharing regarding your
21% 28% 20% 14% 7% 10%
products and services

Increased use of data by front-line representatives 21% 23% 21% 11% 8% 16%

Community/collaboration tools 20% 20% 19% 16% 7% 18%

Self-service 19% 25% 20% 13% 8% 14%

Mobile solutions 18% 21% 22% 20% 9% 10%

On my radar or actively researching Piloting new initiatives In production in a business unit or division In production enterprise wide Upgrading/refining Not interested

Q. Which of the following tools or approaches is your organization currently using or planning to use in the next 12 months to create a better customer experience?

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IDG Communications, Inc. Source: 2018 IDG Digital Business Survey
 Continue the Conversation
To receive a briefing on the full results from this study, or for more information, please contact your
IDG sales executive or contact us.

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IDG Communications, Inc.