Comment (9)The buzz in technology now is digital transformation, which many companies say they are moving toward. However, enterprises large and small are not updating their underlying data center technologies fast enough to support this change.
The result, according to a study released this week, is that many enterprises are losing out to a small group of nimble competitors that have transformed their IT and are already on the road to digital transformation. As many as 95% of companies are behind in updating their IT. (See Digital Transformation: Why IT Culture Matters.)
These results are contained in the "ESG 2017 IT Transformation Maturity Curve" conducted by the Enterprise Strategy Group and sponsored by Dell EMC. Analysts surveyed 1,000 senior IT executives from the United States, Europe, South America and Asia between December and January. (See Dell, HPE, Cisco Top Cloud Infrastructure Market – Analysts .)
The results found that only 5% of enterprises have transformed their IT in order to lay the groundwork for digital transformation. At the same time, 12% of respondents believe that their businesses are stuck with legacy systems without a timetable for change.
The majority of businesses fall into two middle categories. About 42% of enterprises are in the "emerging" section, which means there's some progress but minimal deployment of modern data center technologies. Another 41% fall into the "evolving" stage, which means that they are committed to transforming their IT, and are deploying some of these technologies in their data centers.
These types of technologies include modern storage systems, hyperconverged infrastructure, cloud computing technologies and services, as well as DevOps methodologies. (It should be noted that Dell EMC sells many of these technologies and services.)
While many companies are behind the curve when it comes to transformation, the study did note that even small updates can produce a positive result for the business.
"Companies today increasingly rely on technology to grow and improve all aspects of their business," John McKnight, vice president of Research and Analyst Services for ESG, wrote in a April 12 statement. "However, ESG's research found that fully 'Transformed' IT organizations are admittedly rare at this time. The good news is that there are incremental benefits to be had by making any progress along the maturity curve, which can be achieved by emulating the behaviors of these 'Transformed' organizations."
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Seven out of ten respondents reported that IT transformation is essential to staying competitive in their markets, and 85% of those companies that have gone through this process believe that they are well ahead of their competition. In turn, these more mature enterprises are more likely to view IT as a profit center and a competitive differentiator rather than a drain on resources. (See Cloud Is Taking Budget Away From IT.)
When it comes to IT transformations, companies are having more success with cloud and DevOps than with other technologies. In fact, about 65% of respondents reported that they have made progress in allowing their employees to provision IT resources in the same way a public cloud provider allows.
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- Hybrid Cloud Adoption: 5 Keys to Success
— Scott Ferguson, Editor, Enterprise Cloud News. Follow him on Twitter @sferguson_LR.
