Dell Technologies’ third biennial ‘Digital Transformation Index 2020’ report has detailed how South African organisations are accelerating and leading Digital Transformation projects amidst unprecedented uncertainty.
According to the Dell Technologies study, Digital Transformation is seen as a critical business driver for economic growth with 79% of organisations in South Africa having fast-tracked some Digital Transformation programmes this year or (on par with the 80% reported globally).
The study highlights that organisations are accelerating their Digital Transformation programmes and are on the path to fast-track technology implementation to drive long term business success. The ‘Dell Technologies Digital Transformation Index’ is a global study that analyses and maps Digital Transformation progress of mid-to-large-sized companies across the world.
With 5300 C-Suite respondents surveyed globally from 23 countries from a variety of industries and functions, this year’s study compares South African respondents with global peers.
In one of the first local studies to measure business behaviour amid the pandemic, the study found that 79% of South African organisations have fast-tracked some Digital Transformation programmes this year. A further 84% are in the midst of re-inventing their business model, which is 5% more than the global average of 79%.
Despite these findings, only 23% of South African organisations are planning to invest in virtual/Augmented Reality (greater than the global average of 16%), 44% intend to invest in Artificial Intelligence (also greater than global average of 33%) and a mere 20% plan to invest distributed ledgers in the next one to three years.
A new Digital Transformation curve
When comparing the South African results from 2018 till 2020, Digital leaders (the most digitally mature organisations) have remained the same, at 8%. Digital adopters (the second most digitally mature group) have grown considerably from 23% in 2018 to 49% in 2020 – a 20-percentage point increase. The Digital evaluators (the third most digitally mature group, characterised by gradual Digital Transformation and planning) have seen a 4% drop between 2018 and 2020.
The South African study also recorded a modest drop (3%) in the number of digital laggards (the least digitally mature group) since 2018 and a fall in the second to last group, digital followers, by 13-percentage points. These organisations are moving up, into the Digital Adopter group, which has expanded significantly.
Doug Woolley, Managing Director, South Africa, Dell Technologies, said: “The Digital Transformation Index 2020 survey for South Africa, undertaken in November and December 2020, is particularly pertinent as it clearly shows that organisations across the country, have already begun to roll-out significant digitalisation initiatives to drive business transformation. These initiatives will start to take shape in 2021. In many cases South African organisations surveyed are ahead of the global average and can be seen to be advocating digital transformation initiatives. Given the pace of change today and the constant risk of falling behind, we at Dell Technologies are enabling our customers to be more competitive, optimise costs and drive innovation.”
