Hitachi Data Systems Launches Landmark Report on State of Digital Transformation in Australia & New Zealand

While enterprise leaders are claiming a high degree of action, few if any can truly be classified as taking a transformational approach

Sydney – September 16, 2016 – Digital transformation has moved well beyond hype in Australia and New Zealand among enterprise businesses, and is now firmly on the agenda. However, organisations are struggling to identify digital leaders amongst their peer group or the market more broadly, according to the report, Taking Digital to the Next Level, a landmark study into the state of digital transformation by research firm Tech Research Asia. The study was commissioned by Hitachi Data Systems.

More than half of survey respondents to research into the state of digital transformation indicated their organisation has already started what they define as companywide transformation. Looking more closely at the details of digital transformation initiatives, few if any could truly be classified as pursuing transformational strategies.

"What the research confirms is that while the majority of organisations have been on some form of digital transformation for some time, there is still a lot of work to do to ensure agility of the underlying IT platforms," said Tech Research Asia research director, Trevor Clarke.

"The term 'digital' is increasingly just becoming a de-facto tag for things we do with technology and being 'data-driven' is another popular term being thrown around – often too liberally. It's important that we don't just pay lip service to these ideas as the value they can bring to organisations in industries of all kinds is very real. We need to take these programs everyone says they are doing to the next level."

The report examines how organisations are thinking about digital transformation, how advanced they are in their adoption, what approaches they are taking and the outcomes they are seeing so far. The report also includes a Digital Readiness Health Check for organisations to rate own efforts in moving forward with a digital transformation agenda.

Research was conducted in July 2016 and involved qualitative interviews with a dozen leading organisations and a quantitative survey of 200 business and IT leaders. Respondents of the survey were required to be in senior positions with responsibility for, or influence over, their organisation's use of technology as part of its digital strategy.

Overall results show that digital transformation has moved beyond the initial hype into a well-understood concept, but the report authors advise that enterprises will need to take their current projects to the next level to continue to grow and stay ahead of the curve.

Key Findings include:

• Digital is a well understood concept in ANZ with the majority of organisations identifying it as important or critical.
• Large enterprises in Australia & New Zealand have committed to digital transformation with two-thirds of respondents already having experience with a digital transformation program.
• Organisations struggled to identify market leaders in digital transformation, indicating the term is currently being applied too broadly and is in danger of being over-hyped.
• 40% of respondents indicated that the results from digital projects so far were either mixed, too difficult to measure or delivered no competitive advantage.
• Competitive environment, internal culture, regulation and skills were identified as the top challenges preventing organisations from achieving their goals.
• IT and operations over-shadow marketing when it comes to departments undertaking digital transformation initiatives, confirming it is more than just a means of improving customer engagement.

Nathan McGregor, VP of Hitachi Data Systems Australia & New Zealand, said, "The number one concern of most businesses is 'new competitors entering their market, which demonstrates an overstated fear of the so-called digital unicorns like Uber and AirBNB. While the presence of these disruptors brings a sense of pressure and urgency for the established enterprises to be seen to be labelling initiatives as 'disruptive' or 'digital transformation,' we are finding many businesses classifying their projects as enterprise-wide transformation when in fact they are making a single process digital."
"This means enterprises are in danger of falling into complacency. However customer expectations are growing and companies that want to grow and succeed had better increase their appetite and urgency for true transformation while there's still time"

"When you look deeper at the digital unicorns we have much to learn. We would suggest we focus on not 'what' they do, but 'how' they do it. And while it's easy to focus on technology being the key to success, we propose that culture plays a more important role. Again, the data shows that is the second biggest challenge for enterprises facing digital transformation."

Tech Research Asia's recommendations for enterprise organisations include:

• Get familiar with great digital successes in your industry and others.
• Take a digital health check-up and re-establish your vision and strategy.
• Push past your digital comfort zones and be ambitious.
• Aim for agility.
• Deepen your digital readiness.
• Treat all digital endeavours as cultural ones.

For more information download the full report https://www.hitachivantara.com/go/marketo/assets/pdf/hds-taking-digital-to-the-next-level.pdf

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About Hitachi Data Systems
Hitachi Data Systems, a wholly owned subsidiary of Hitachi, Ltd., offers an integrated portfolio of services and solutions that enable digital transformation through enhanced data management, governance, mobility and analytics. We help global organizations open new revenue streams, increase efficiencies, improve customer experience and ensure rapid time to market in the digital age. Only Hitachi Data Systems powers the digital enterprise by integrating the best information technology and operational technology from across the Hitachi family of companies. We combine this experience with Hitachi expertise in the internet of things to deliver the exceptional insights business and society need to transform and thrive. Visit us at http://www.hds.com/anz/.

About Hitachi, Ltd.
Hitachi, Ltd. (TSE: 6501), headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, delivers innovations that answer society's challenges. The company's consolidated revenues for fiscal 2015 (ended March 31, 2016) totaled 10,034.3 billion yen ($88.7 billion). The Hitachi Group is a global leader in the Social Innovation Business, and it has approximately 335,000 employees worldwide. Through collaborative creation, Hitachi is providing solutions to customers in a broad range of sectors, including Power / Energy, Industry / Distribution / Water, Urban Development, and Finance / Government & Public / Healthcare. For more information on Hitachi, please visit the company's website at http://www.hitachi.com.

Press Contact:
Hitachi Data Systems
Natasha David
+61 2 9325 3300
natasha.david@hds.com

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