The biggest hurdles

For the report "Closing the Acceleration Gap: Toward Sustainable Digital Transformation," Workday surveyed 1150 top executives worldwide about the pace of digital transformation over the past two years and where they see the biggest hurdles to transformation success. The results show that while finance, HR and IT leaders are aware of the importance of digital transformation, 55 percent of them complain that their digital strategy is often or always overwhelmed by the demands of day-to-day business.

As a result, the so-called "digital acceleration gap" is widening, a state in which technology, processes and culture are unable to keep pace with changes in business requirements. Although data-driven transformation is one of the core competencies of CIOs, many feel overwhelmed by the pace of change. Legacy systems and data silos are seen as particularly problematic, according to the report. Only 42 percent of IT executives believe they could adopt cloud technologies without being hampered by legacy systems.