A new report by e-signature and software developer Docusign highlights a counterintuitive trend in European organisations. Despite increasing investment, developing technologies, and widespread consensus on its importance, progress towards digital transformation has “stalled” across Europe.
The report, Accelerating Digital Maturity in 2024: How Businesses Can Break the Productivity Paradox, highlights a range of factors as driving this “digital transformation paradox”, including resistance to change, growing digital skill gaps, and resource-based barriers like lack of time, budget, and staff.
Frustration is intensifying with the digital transformation progress paradox. Over a third of business decision makers said they would consider leaving their company in the next 12
months, a significant rise compared with 31% in 2023.
Digital maturity describes how strongly a company’s digital infrastructure is built to achieve the business’ overall goals. A higher level of digital maturity is directly linked to business success. According to Docusign’s research, organisations that are considered digital leaders in their sectors generate 50% more revenue than their less digitally mature peers.
Digital first does not mean digitally mature
Digital maturity is an obvious value creator for businesses. However, Docusign’s research found that progress towards it has stalled. Today, fewer than half (46%) of all organisations considering themselves to be highly or very highly digitally mature.
Despite this fall in digital maturity, investment in digital transformation is rising. Docusign found that 74% of businesses reported increasing their investment in, and adoption of, digital technologies over the past year. This was up from 70% in 2023. Clearly, the takeaway is that digital transformation is about more than investment. Businesses that aim to overtake their peers and digitally transform clearly need to pair digital investment with “deeper structural and cultural change”, according to the report. “It’s a sure sign that while digital technologies and digital transformation efforts are evolving in tandem, businesses are struggling to keep pace,” adds the report.
Despite half (51%) of businesses surveyed reporting the digital maturity level of their competitors to be high. Around the same number said they feel slightly behind in terms of their own organisation’s digital maturity (46%). However, the majority (56%) of businesses still considered themselves to be a “digital first organisation.” An additional 31% said they were working towards becoming one. Digital maturity is obviously a near-ubiquitous goal, despite many companies struggling to attain it.
“A willingness to self-define as ‘digital first’ may be linked to the fact that many businesses have increased investment in digital technologies in the last 12 months,” notes the report. However, given the digital maturity paradox, Docusign’s research suggests “either these efforts aren’t untapping the desired results, or companies are yet to see the return.”
- Digital Strategy
