Speed limit

According to the recent Closing the Acceleration Gap survey by Longitude, implemented on behalf of Workday, digitization is losing speed. Many companies are now unable to keep up with the pace they initially set. This is evident from the results. In the survey, for example, nearly six out of ten executives say that their company's digital transformation has already slowed down or they expect it to slow down in the future. For example, about half of the respondents confirm that the gap between the status quo and the required competitiveness is widening - a gaping hole, an "acceleration gap" that many companies face in terms of resources, skills and budget. Now they are looking for sustainable strategies to successfully implement their transformation.

When it comes to introducing new technologies and ways of working, numerous companies have no choice but to comply with the acceleration. But digital ambitions are not being pursued as ambitiously as they were two years ago. By 2021, only 13 percent expected digital to account for 75 percent of revenue within three years. One reason for the slowdown is the respective corporate culture.

Motivation and productivity

The effects of digitization are not always immediately visible, making it difficult to maintain employee motivation over the long term to ensure high productivity. A lack of skills and cultural hurdles are identified as further reasons for the loss of speed. For example, four out of ten of those surveyed cited a lack of relevant skills as the biggest obstacle to achieving their transformation goals.

To close the "acceleration gap" and make the digital transformation sustainable, the development of certain characteristics is conducive. However, only half of the companies surveyed still showed a "fail-fast" mentality in 2021, compared with around three-quarters in 2020. The willingness to experiment continues to decline, which slows down the pace. 

Furthermore, the availability and quality of data is an important prerequisite for major transformation progress. Uncertainties arise when there is no reliable, uniform database that represents the current state of the company. By unifying financial, HR and operational data from across the enterprise, employees and management can get a complete picture and make better decisions faster by analyzing the situation in real time. But less than half of respondents (46 percent) consider themselves digitally well equipped to ensure business continuity in a crisis.

Smart technologies, intuitive solutions and tools that support all employees across the enterprise to ensure security and continuous operational up-time and make the company fit for the future: But how do companies do it? Acting in the here and now: Reactions, measures, decisions can only have their effect if they are implemented directly. This requires companies to work together across departments in real time and on the basis of real-time data. Silos, system breaks, access problems must be eliminated. 

Enterprise Management Cloud

Companies are prevented by their legacy systems from implementing necessary measures. Instead, they should be able to adapt their applications quickly and smoothly to changing requirements. The enterprise management cloud is the backbone of digital transformation and enables companies to better equip themselves for adaptation. This is because it bypasses the blockages caused by legacy and on-premises solutions and enables CIOs to fulfill their role as strategic advisors. Planning for the future: The more uncertainties there are, the more difficult it becomes to plan for the future. Therefore, business units need to be enabled to run multiple "if, then" scenarios in parallel.