Innovation as a Daily Practice is Key to Achieving Digital Transformation

  • Global firms across economic sectors are expected to spend more than $10 trillion on digital transformation initiatives, yet more than 70% will fail
  • In today’s accelerated, digital-first economy, revenue growth for digitally empowered enterprises is 1.8 times higher than for digital laggards
  • A proven roadmap for successful digital transformation combines the power of rapid software development with a process emphasizing people, portfolio assessment, and enterprise-wide strategic alignment

BOSTON – December 8, 2022 – According to Mendix, a Siemens business and global leader in modern enterprise application development, enterprises across every economic sector must dramatically alter their approach to digital transformation in order to stay relevant in today’s vastly accelerated, digital-first business landscape.

New research reveals that enterprises have embraced the message to go digital or go dark:

  • IDC forecasts business spending on digital transformation initiatives will exceed $10 trillion within five years.
  • PwC research found 60% of top executives cite digital transformation as the most critical factor to grow the enterprise in 2022.
  • Boston Consulting Group reports 80% of organizations intend to accelerate their planned digital transformation initiatives.

Despite this activity, real-world efforts to accelerate the strategic adoption of new technologies — to solve operational needs, achieve efficiencies, roll out new lines of business, and provide expanded, innovative experiences for customers and employees — is proving difficult. Boston Consulting Group analysts recently calculated that 70% of all enterprise digitalization efforts result in failure. McKinsey found 87% of enterprises reporting a digital skills gap, complicating rapid implementation of business-critical, innovative solutions.

Looking for success in all the right places

Mendix believes that successful digital transformation is best served by an open digital business platform that is flexible, interoperable, and collaborative to speed value creation and innovation at scale. To achieve this, companies should start with enterprise-wide alignment on a strategic plan that includes clear and concise execution and success metrics. It is a holistic process that reframes the digital transformation paradigm from a series of disconnected “one-and-done” initiatives to an ongoing practice.

This type of structured practice requires enterprises to undertake a thorough self-assessment of their digital maturity and application landscape. This is the basis for creating a scalable roadmap outlining how to develop a change-ready culture, demonstrate progress on business-critical goals, and win buy-in across the enterprise. Without this alignment, fundamental barriers such as risk aversion and resistance to change arise from the disconnect between strategic vision and execution and  torpedo all but 30% of digital transformation projects.

“The underlying premise of digital transformation is about creating the future without the constraints of the past. Innovation happens not just by creating something entirely new, but also by improving what already exists,” said Nick Ford, chief evangelist at Mendix. “It’s no surprise that most enterprises try to jump start