Another day, another piece of research around digital transformation. According to a new study from enterprise and cloud network infrastructure provider Interoute, more than half (51%) of IT leaders in the UK are struggling to secure boardroom access to digital transformation objectives.
The study, which polled 820 IT decision makers in organisations across Europe, pondered on the various reasons boardrooms across Europe are reticent to make big leaps towards digital transformation – with Brexit and general political uncertainty at the top of the list.
When asked whether Brexit specifically, or the wider political climate – such as US and Russian foreign policy – has impacted their organisation, 41% replied yes for the former and 38% asserted positively for the latter, saying it has made them nervous around committing to long term IT infrastructure projects. On the contrary, 39% of respondents said the general political climate has made utilising cloud-hosted applications more appealing due to their greater flexibility.
The most popular reason to move towards a digital transformation strategy, according to 46% of respondents, is to improve operations. 44% said they were aiming to enhance their employees’ experience, with customer experience (41%) and globalising infrastructure (39%) also key factors.
Yet more than one in five (22%) of all respondents say they have terminated at least one digital transformation project due to the uncertain economic state, with a further 17% saying they are putting all budgets on hold until Brexit is better resolved.
“It is vital to get buy-in at the highest levels of any organisation to make the changes necessary that will allow businesses to progress and keep pace with the digital economy,” said Mark Lewis, Interoute EVP products and development. “IT professionals need the support of the whole business to be able to deliver the digital foundation business needs for future growth.”
You can read the full report here (email required).
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