The digital transformation priorities over the next 12 months

Local research and advisory firm ADAPT surveyed 150 leaders across a number of sectors, including financial services, and revealed five key priorities – data analytics (61 per cent), training and upskilling (59 per cent), hybrid work enablement (55 per cent), change management (55 per cent) and AI (54 per cent).

ADAPT founder and CEO Jim Berry said digital leaders are more aligned than ever due to the change brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, however how these priorities should be implemented “remains an ongoing question for many”.

“Digital transformation initiatives focusing on both staff and customers are well underway, but cultural and technical barriers are still problematic,” Mr Berry said.

“IT leaders need more support from their executive teams to ensure the organisations they represent stay competitive in a digital economy.”

The survey also found that the top 5 per cent of digitally-capable firms share a greater focus on attracting and retaining talent through investing in digital employee experiences such as challenges attributed to working from home, making data-driven decisions and dealing with “digital burnout”.

The top 5 per cent also showed more interests in their customers and how to create a better experience for customers through their digital platforms.

“As customers flock to new platforms, the most agile performers have raced to meet them where they prefer to do business, but the success of new initiatives depends largely on the availability of quality data,” Mr Berry said.

“To remain competitive, digital leaders should be spearheading data-improvement initiatives to empower the entire organisation with the chance to contribute to great customer outcomes.”

Neil Griffiths

Neil is the Deputy Editor of the wealth titles, including ifa and InvestorDaily.

Neil is also the host of the ifa show podcast.