Digital Transformation: Fractures

According to a recent study commissioned by CenturyLink, only half of global enterprise respondents had a digital transformation strategy in place, and even those companies will face major disruptions to their businesses over the next three years.

Conducted by 451 Research , the study provided a snapshot into how, why and the pace at which organizations across the globe were preparing for their digital futures.

"In a global economy that's dominated by disruption, innovation and cyber threats, speed to market is of the essence," said Bill Hurley, chief marketing officer for CenturyLink Inc. (NYSE: CTL), in a prepared statement. "However, the complexities associated with digital transformation can result in numerous roadblocks. Moving to a superior network and employing agile cloud technologies are keys to simplifying the transformation process. This approach is a foundational element of success in digital transformation."

While 60% of the enterprises that were surveyed were increasing their IT spending to tap into the benefits of digitization, more than 40% estimated that those digital transformations would take three to five years.

The study identified three primary barriers to successful digital transformations: inflexible IT systems and the need for agility (35%); organizational silos and the need to uncouple legacy practices (33%); risk and security, including the need for assured data custody (31%).

Not surprisingly, the study reaffirmed the importance of cloud services. Using a scale of 1 to 10, 80% of the respondents ranked cloud's importance at 7 or higher while 20% gave it a perfect score of 10.

To further underscore the importance of cloud services, the enterprises that had mature digital transformation strategies in place ranked the importance of cloud services 15% higher than the companies that were in the early stages of their transformations.

— Mike Robuck, Editor, Telco Transformation