A clear alignment between the business, IT and app development teams delivers innovation and helps high-growth companies meet their business objectives, according to new global research by VMware.
With the COVID-19 pandemic impacts affecting global economies, the VMware research found that companies that were further along the path of digital transformation (DX) were better placed to weather the impact of business downturns due to their improved delivery of modern applications.
The study draws on a survey conducted in March and April by Vanson Bourne, covering 5,000 business decision makers, IT decision makers and app developers at mid- to large-sized organisations in 17 countries around the world.
Among respondents, 1,650 are from five countries in Asia Pacific (APAC) — Australia, China, India, Japan and South Korea.
“The research showed that while APAC businesses’ priorities align with their global counterparts, a notably lower proportion of businesses in APAC prioritise the customer experience,” said Kip Cole, VMWare’s VP of Tanzu Asia Pacific & Japan.
“The focus is instead on employee-related priorities, such as improving collaboration and attracting or retaining talent which will place them in a strong position to move forward in their digitalisation journey,” said Cole.
The organisational traits of these successful APAC companies revealed that technology was only one component that determined success and that talent, leadership that understands software and organisational alignment were prime determinants for success.
Among respondents, 94% say it is imperative for people with varied technical skills to be heavily involved with DX initiatives if they are to succeed.
Also, 89% say organisations with software-minded leaders are more successful. Further, 88% believe that greater alignment between different stakeholders involved in the app development process would lead to much higher levels of success with digital transformation.
And while 97% of APAC respondents have seen some success from their DX efforts, nearly just as many respondents (90%) have had elements of such efforts hindered.
The top three digital transformation challenges for firms in APAC are too many security and regulatory requirement hurdles or obstacles (32%), apps / software did not integrate well with existing/ legacy systems (27%), and too many platforms that over complicated the delivery of the change (27%).
