2023 Enterprise Digital Transformation Capability Survey

The digital transformation of an enterprise is a complex, long-term systematic project, but many enterprises are blindly and disorderly in their transformation, either out of helplessness, or on impulse, or because they see that the Wang family next door is doing well. The wrong original intention will lead to the wrong direction, and the unclear direction will lead to repeated construction and still standing still. In the end, a lot of money was spent, but the effect was not seen, and the value of digitalization was difficult to reflect. So how to carry out the digital construction of an enterprise? After all, a person's thoughts, vision, and ability are limited. Therefore, Lao Yang summarized a set of digital capability survey forms from several aspects such as strategic planning ability, organizational ability, implementation and application ability, business ability, and capital investment ability, and conducted a basic survey on the digital transformation capabilities of enterprises across the country. Here, Lao Yang would like to express his gratitude to all the fans who participated in the questionnaire survey, and now summarizes the survey report as follows:

1. The current status of enterprise digitalization in 2023 from the perspective of strategic planning capabilities

The survey shows that 59% of enterprises said that they have a strong awareness of digitalization in 2023 and are actively carrying out digital construction, but 29% of enterprises are still in a wait-and-see state . Enterprises are wavering in their awareness and are unable to make a decision on whether to carry out digital transformation. On the one hand, they have problems with digitalization awareness, and on the other hand, they have problems with capital investment capabilities.

In the process of enterprise digital transformation, the depth of leadership's understanding of digitalization determines its strategic height. In the survey, we clearly saw that 78% of management's understanding of digitalization is insufficient , and most of them are in a vague state of understanding. This also makes it difficult to understand, plan, select, implement and apply transformation.

In terms of digital planning, we see a gratifying side. Nearly 37% of enterprise users have both planning and strict implementation , but nearly 40% of enterprises are still in a state of having plans but never implementing them. This reflects the importance that enterprises attach to digitalization on the one hand, and on the other hand, it reflects the management and execution capabilities of enterprises. It is a recognized fact that most traditional enterprises do not attach much importance to digitalization, which has also created a situation of arbitrary digital construction. The randomness of digitalization lacking planning and execution capabilities has also caused the lack of goal-oriented digital construction. Nearly 46% of enterprises said that there is no goal for digital construction at present, and it is all carried out according to the requirements of the current business department, which is in a disorderly state of doing things as they go .

In terms of budget, 46% of enterprises have strict budget implementation, mainly concentrated in the level of central state-owned enterprises, while most private enterprises, especially small and medium-sized enterprises are still in a state of no budget for digitalization. This is caused by the lack of planning in enterprise digitalization and the arbitrary nature of construction. Most private enterprises are still in a state of buying when needed and doing whatever they think of . This has also caused various islands and duplication of functions to a certain extent, which has invisibly caused a lot of cost waste .

From the above survey results, it is not difficult to see that leadership awareness determines whether an enterprise carries out digital construction, the depth of leadership's understanding of digitalization determines the height of the enterprise's digital strategy, and the strategic height affects the enterprise's execution ability . The enterprise's management ability determines the execution of the enterprise's digital transformation process, and the execution ability affects the ability to implement the plan. The enterprise's strategic height and execution ability affect whether the digital budget can be implemented and affect the overall digital construction results .

2. Digital process management from the perspective of organizational capabilities

Organization is the guarantee for the smooth implementation of enterprise digital transformation, and the person in charge of the organization and his or her ability and influence also directly affect the implementation effect. It is said that digital transformation is a top-level project, but according to the results of the survey, only 26% of enterprises’ digitalization is led by the top leader, 34% of enterprises are led by the information department, followed by 30% by the leaders in charge. Therefore, we see that most of the current enterprises are responsible for the construction of digital transformation at middle and high levels. Analyzing from the positions of the people participating in the survey, the highest proportion of middle-level managers in the enterprise is 30.89%. In order to facilitate the distinction between positions, the position of digitalization person in charge is specially added. The results show that the proportion of middle-level and digitalization persons in charge is almost the same, which shows that the position of digitalization persons in enterprises within the enterprise is mostly middle-level managers.

As the two key organizations that affect the success of an enterprise's digital transformation: the Digital Transformation Committee and the Information Department, their influence in the process of enterprise transformation cannot be underestimated. The Committee directly determines the ability to realize digitalization from a strategic management perspective, while the Information Department determines the ability to implement digitalization. According to the survey results, as many as 73% of companies do not have a strategic organization such as a Digital Transformation Committee , and 79% of companies have an information department. However, nearly 15% of the companies surveyed stated that they did not establish an information department. This is mainly concentrated in some small and medium-sized enterprises. Of course, some medium-sized enterprises also have the problem of not having a professional information department.

The most prominent issue in the digital organizational capabilities of enterprises is the status of the information department, which determines its influence and voice. In this survey, 61% of the respondents said that the status of the information center is average , 30% of the respondents said that the information department has no status at all and only plays the role of IT service, and 32% of the information departments are not first-level departments and are under other departments, making it difficult to play their due value in the process of digital transformation. Therefore, different statuses provide limited value to the digital transformation of enterprises. In many enterprises, there is even a phenomenon of laymen guiding experts, which leads to deviations in the direction of digitalization .

In terms of the personnel management capabilities of the digital department, 44% of the surveyed companies stated that they do not have a professional head of the digital department, namely the CIO. Due to organizational issues, the people to whom companies report in terms of digitalization are different. 49% of companies report to the deputy general manager in charge. This shows that the front-line situation of digital construction cannot be directly conveyed to the top leader , which will affect the decision-making of digital construction to a certain extent. However, it is gratifying that 29% of companies stated that digital work is reported directly to the top leader.

3. Enterprise digitalization implementation guarantee capabilities

The key to an enterprise's digital transformation is to have a plan, a goal, and an organization, but implementation is the key. The entire implementation process includes several key links: research, selection, implementation, launch, operation and maintenance, after-sales, etc. Any disconnection or insufficient capacity in any link will directly affect the implementation effect and digital value.

As we all know, the essence of digital transformation is the integration of technology and business, but there are always various problems in the actual implementation process, such as the participation of business departments. Surveys show that 66% of companies only participate in digital construction when the leadership attaches great importance to it . This shows that although companies have digital awareness, internal employees still lack enthusiasm for digital participation. In addition to strategic attention, companies have increased their publicity efforts for digitalization in their daily work, which is the digital "evangelism" within the company.

In terms of digital culture construction, 37% of enterprises said they had never established a digital culture , and 30% said they were ready to establish one. At the same time, "the system has not been built, and the assessment must be carried out first." Although the leaders of enterprises attach importance to it, they lack corresponding safeguards at the implementation level, and digital construction is also empty talk. In terms of the formulation of assessment indicators, nearly 50% of enterprises said they have not established it, and 22% of enterprises have established a digital assessment system but have never implemented it. Therefore, it is not difficult to see that the fundamental reason why most enterprises have difficulty in implementing and applying digitalization is the lack of corresponding performance assessment safeguards.

During the digital construction system introduction stage, nearly 52% of the respondents said that their companies have a strict system introduction process, which shows that companies are gradually standardizing system construction activities, from blind construction to rational management . However, 48% of the respondents said that the business departments within the company will introduce systems if they deem it necessary. This also reflects the challenges currently faced by digital construction. The business departments that control the company's advantageous resources determine the right and right to choose digital construction. At the same time, this also creates a hidden danger of project failure due to their lack of professionalism in digital construction.

The functions of digital systems and the capabilities of software companies are the main factors that affect the effectiveness of digital transformation of enterprises. During the construction process, enterprises need to consider not only the degree to which software meets business needs, but also the implementation capabilities of software companies. However, through this survey, we found that most enterprises pay more attention to system prices during the selection stage. 39% of enterprise respondents believe that system price is the first factor , and 40% of respondents said that price is not important, and function is the key. Few enterprises pay attention to the implementation capabilities of software companies. However, in the survey on whether they are satisfied with the current cooperating software companies, nearly 63% of enterprises said that they are generally satisfied with the cooperating software companies , so software companies need to take a step forward in service capabilities.

The key to the successful implementation of digital projects lies in the internal collaboration capabilities of the enterprise. However, in this survey, only 12% of the respondents said that the enterprise's collaboration capabilities are strong, nearly 29% of the respondents said that the internal departmental walls of the enterprise are very serious and it is difficult to collaborate, and nearly 59% of enterprises said that the collaboration capabilities are average. The thick departmental walls not only block the information flow of the enterprise, but also seriously block the data flow of the enterprise, resulting in difficulty in the circulation and application of data within the system.

In the process of enterprise digital implementation and construction, the participation of business is very important. However, according to the survey results, nearly 47% of enterprises said that although the business department participated, the overall enthusiasm was not high, that is, passive participation , which caused a disconnect between business needs and system functions, resulting in a huge gap between the functions "wanted" by the business department and what they actually got, making it difficult to go online and apply smoothly. Therefore, what enterprises need during the implementation process is a team that integrates technology and business. From the survey, we also see that nearly 40% of enterprises designated business backbones to participate in the project implementation process to ensure the implementation effect .

In the process of building digital systems, in addition to corresponding institutional guarantees, most companies also lack incentives . The survey shows that 50% of respondents said that their companies have never had incentives for digital transformation, and nearly 19% of respondents said that their companies have incentives but have never fulfilled them. Therefore, it is recommended that companies should not only have institutional guarantees but also incentives in the process of digital construction.

The most fundamental reason why digitalization is difficult to promote and apply is that employees lack in-depth knowledge of digitalization. Therefore, training and education are very important . However, surveys show that 57% of companies lack digital training, some have training but it lacks sustainability, and 23% of companies say they have never had digital training. Therefore, companies need to establish a digital training and learning mechanism on the one hand, and create a systematic digital training system on the other.

The digital transformation of an enterprise is a complex project, and risks are lurking at every stage of the process. However, most traditional enterprises lack risk awareness and risk management capabilities during the construction process. In terms of risk warning mechanisms, nearly 49% of the companies surveyed said they had never established one, and 21% of the companies said that although they had established a risk warning mechanism, it had never been implemented. This is also one of the reasons for the failure of enterprise digital transformation.

From the perspective of demand management , 64% of the respondents said that the business departments were very vague about the demand during the digital construction process and could not provide value demand. Unclear demand is the biggest risk in the digital construction process. Therefore, enterprises should increase the guidance, sorting and evaluation of demand . If the demand direction is misjudged, the more digital efforts are made, the lower its value will be. The ambiguity of demand brings about a chain reaction. 59% of the respondents said that the business logic of the business departments was very vague and unclear during the digital project construction process, which will directly lead to the difficulty in reflecting the effect of digital implementation and the inability of system functions to reflect value.

From an organizational perspective , the main risks in the digital construction process come from unclear responsibilities and authority . 56% of the respondents said that the management of the construction process was chaotic. From a human perspective, there are two key figures who determine whether digitalization can be successful. The first is the top leader, and the second is the CIO. It is said that digital transformation is a top leader project, so the top leader of the company should not only verbally support the strategy, but also support it with actions during the construction process, such as taking the lead in implementing relevant systems and using the system. In this survey, we saw a more gratifying side. Nearly 37% of the companies surveyed said that the top leader took the lead in using digital systems, but it is worth noting that nearly 35% of the companies said that the top leader still verbally supported it , so this also made it difficult to promote the application of digital systems. The CIO is the core figure of the company's digital transformation, but from a human perspective, 61% of the respondents said that the person in charge of digitalization in their company is stable, and as for the main reason for the CIO's resignation, nearly 52% of the respondents said that the main reason for leaving was the difficulty in carrying out digital work within the company, so this shows the arduousness and complexity of digital transformation.

From an operational perspective , the risks of digital transformation construction come from the supporting systems and execution capabilities, as well as process management capabilities. From an institutional perspective, 31% of companies said they have never had a supporting digital system management system, and 35% of companies said they have a system but have never implemented it . Therefore, it is not difficult to see that the lack of system has led to weak digital applications in the later stages. As we all know, the core of the business system lies in the process, but most traditional companies often fall into technical misunderstandings, believing that the process is a technical issue rather than operational management . Therefore, in this survey, 34% of companies said that although they have process sorting, they have not been optimized, and 21% of companies said they have never had process awareness. Companies should note that technology cannot solve the pain of management.

The greatest value of enterprise digital construction is data. In terms of data management, 65% of the surveyed enterprises said that the data management of business departments is not standardized and in a chaotic state . The main reason for this problem is the lack of data awareness among enterprise leaders. From the perspective of data security, nearly 56% of the surveyed enterprises said that although they have data security protection measures, the protection capabilities are average, which means that there are huge security loopholes in the data security protection of enterprises. 14% of enterprises do not even have data security protection measures, which means they are in a naked state. This has brought severe security challenges to the digital construction of enterprises, and enterprises need to pay comprehensive attention to it.

Finally, there is a survey on the value of digitalization. The most intuitive value of digital construction is to achieve paperless office. Whether data can provide a basis for relevant decision-making for enterprise management , the results show that as many as 54% of corporate respondents do not fully trust the data in the system. Therefore, it is not difficult to see that digital construction is built in vain in the end. The quality of data affects the value of digitalization . Therefore, enterprises need to work hard not only on management, but also on the quality of data .

This article comes from the WeChat public account "Xiangjiang Digital Review" (ID: benpaoshuzi)