Data analytics to be investment priority for top performing companies: PwC’s Digital IQ Survey

23 April 2014, Delhi: Data mining and analysis along with cyber security have emerged as the top investment priorities among companies in India this year as compared to the last year, which indicated highest investment in private and public cloud. This is because with the evolution of cloud based services and its increased adoption among businesses, companies are now realising the potential of analytics and the business value of information generated out of it, making it one of the top strategic investment priorities over the next three to five years. At the same time companies are keen on addressing any digital threat or risks, hence the focus on cyber security.

The PwC 6th Annual Digital IQ Survey polled nearly 1,500 business and IT executives across 36 countries and examined the digital attitudes and practices of both business and IT executives from around the world.  It identified the digital behaviours, skills, processes, and systems that are consistently found among high performing companies.

There is an enhanced relationship among CIOs and CEOs, CFOs and CMOs, which is proving vital for understanding and analysing risks and opportunities while developing a technology roadmap for organisations. The survey draws out the importance of strong C-suite relationship – companies with strong C-suite relationships and ‘digital conversations’ within the C-suite were 2.4 times more likely to be top performers.

“India is today uniquely positioned with over 9o percent CIOs, CTOs and CEOs rating the Digital IQ of their companies as ‘strong’” said Debdas Sen, Technology Consulting leader, PwC India. “With the role of the CIO changing, the need to run the IT department as a business, rather than a cost centre is a trend that we are seeing across industry sectors,” he added.

Organisations across industries are ramping up investments in technologies like cloud, mobile, social, data mining and analytics, and considering the implications of other emerging technologies like 3D computing, robotics and sensors. The survey reveals that 92 percent of the Indian respondents have a strong or very strong Digital IQ, compared to the overall global average of 63 percent. This is an increase over previous year, where 85 percent of the Indian companies had rated themselves with a ‘strong’ or ‘very strong’ Digital IQ.

The key notable trends among Indian companies are:

• The CIO as a new strategic partner
• Mobile technology used significantly in customer interaction
• Analytics playing an important role in giving meaning to enterprise data
• Companies investing in virtual meeting and collaboration technologies, private cloud as well as digital delivery of products and services
• Growing realisation of the importance of innovation

Ninety percent respondents agreed that business and IT leaders shared the same detailed understanding of the corporate strategy in their organisation, 83 percent agreed that their CEO or senior-most business leader is an active champion in the use of information technology to achieve business strategy and 56 percent rated their organisation’s IT department as having an ‘excellent’ understanding of the business strategy. The survey also revealed that 81 percent of companies in India have either a single or multiyear roadmap for the overall business strategy in place of which 88 percent are top performers and 70 percent are their nonperforming peers.

More than 50 percent of the top performers indicated that they are currently investing in virtual meeting and collaboration technologies (56 percent), private cloud (53 percent), data mining and analysis (53 percent), mobile apps and technologies of interaction with customers (53 percent) and data visualization (53 percent). Concepts such as BYOD (bring your own device) provides access to enterprise data through mobile devices and has enabled the workforce to conduct business anytime, anywhere. This has ensured business continuity and is driving efficiency and productivity.

Indian companies are realising that it is essential to have a digital capability woven throughout the organisation rather than considering it as a centralised function operating in a silo; and also that innovation is important. Just as building relevant technical skills and resources are critical to addressing this change, a shared understanding of how a digital strategy works to accomplish the organisation’s goals and who is responsible for each aspect is also crucial. Achieving this level of collaboration requires IT to fully understand all aspects of business and that business in turn understands all aspects of IT. The survey also states that the top performing companies had a higher degree of understanding of both aspects.

Notes

Top performers are those that reported revenue growth of more than 10%, and said that their companies are in the top quartile for revenue, profitability and innovation

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