Foundry's Digital Business research was previously published under the IDG Communications brand. The study outlines the strategies and technologies that organizations are adopting to successfully complete their journey to become a digital business.

1. Digital Business Study 2021
Insight into organizations’ progress towards
becoming a digital-first business

2. 2
Source: Foundry Digital Business Study, 2021
Purpose and methodology
Survey goal
To gain a better understanding of
how companies are evolving their
businesses through the use of
technology to drive revenue and
create better customer and
employee experiences.
Total respondents 607
Collection method
Online questionnaire
Number of questions 27
Average company size 14,247 employees
Region
North America 49%
APAC 27%
EMEA 24%
Audience base
CIO, Computerworld, CSO, InfoWorldand
Network World site visitors,and email
invitations to audience base
Digital first approach
All survey respondents are within
organizations that have plans to adopt/or
already launched a “digital-first” approach
7%
7%
8%
8%
8%
9%
9%
13%
16%
Retail, wholesale, distribution
Telecommunications & utilities
Healthcare
Government/nonprofit
Education
Services (legal, consulting, real estate)
Financial services (banking, insurance,
brokerage)
Manufacturing
Technology
Job titles
Top represented industries
IT mgmt.
Exec. IT
Business mgmt.
IT pro
Other
61%
11%
11%
11%
6%

3. 2019
#2
#4
#3
#1
#5
#7
#8
#6
#10
#9
3
“Digital business” meanings slightly shift
Question: What does “digital business”mean to your organization?
Source: Foundry Digital Business Study, 2021
49%
43%
42%
40%
39%
36%
35%
32%
30%
28%
Enable worker productivity (mobile apps, data access, AI-assisted automation)
Increase understanding of customer needs through data collection and analysis
Better manage business performance through data availability and visibility
Meet customer experience expectations (through personalization, enhanced
customer touchpoints, etc.)
Digitally modify business and/or processes
Improve employee engagement (smart workforces, collaboration tools, etc.)
Develop new digital business/revenue streams
Provide secure, optimized anywhere/anytimes access to assets
Digital globalization (the flow of data and information which enables
the movement of goods, services, finance, and people worldwide)
Achieve top-line growth through digital product enhancements or new digitally or
data-driven products and services

4. 4
Organizations have made digital-first plans
Question: To what extent has your organization adopted a “digital first” approach to business processes, operations and customer engagement today?
Source: Foundry Digital Business Study, 2021
96%
94%
93%
91%
90%
88%
84%
82%
Healthcare
Manufacturing
Technology
Financial services
Retail
Services
Government
Education
91%
of organizations have adopted,
or have plans to adopt, a “digital-first”
business strategy
By industry
1,000+ 96%
<1,000 86%

5. 5
Working towards employee productivity & business agility
Question: What are the top objectives of your organization’s digital business strategy?
Source: Foundry Digital Business Study, 2021
13%
18%
24%
25%
28%
29%
31%
34%
38%
38%
42%
43%
44%
Improve staff retention rates and team morale
Maintain overall revenue, given market shifts
Staying ahead/on pace with competition
Reduce complexity
Improve employee engagement/collaboration
Keep up with customer expectations
Enable sustainable growth
Improve security
Reduce costs/inefficiencies
Drive new revenue through innovation
Create better customer experience
Enable business agility/resiliency
Improve employee productivity/performance Up from #8 in 2019

6. 6
Strategies in place to become a digital business
Question: How much progress has your organization made in each of the following areas on its way to becoming a digital business?
Source: Foundry Digital Business Study, 2021
25%
28%
24%
26%
25%
22%
22%
27%
19%
32%
40%
44%
41%
40%
50%
42%
42%
47%
19%
17%
18%
19%
23%
16%
24%
20%
25%
24%
15%
14%
14%
12%
12%
11%
10%
9%
Persona development
Determining the metrics of success
Change management
Workforce strategy (determining roles/
responsibilities)
IT skills assessment
Data management strategy
Technology needs assessment
Developing a business case/roadmap
for the overall digital strategy
Data security/protection strategy
Planning In progress Completed No plans

7. 7
Current challenges associated with digital business success
Question: What are your biggest challenges today in achieving success with digital business initiatives? (Today)
Source: Foundry Digital Business Study, 2021
7%
8%
10%
11%
16%
17%
18%
18%
18%
21%
22%
23%
23%
26%
31%
32%
Lack of ownership within IT
Agile competitors
API development & deployment
Lack of customer insights
Organizational issues such as poorly defined roles and responsibilities
Inability to act on data
Data collection/management/analysis
Lack of corporate vision and/or buy-in
Cultural issues
Lack of staff and/or correct skill sets
Lack of integration of legacy systems with new applications
Business and IT strategy are not well aligned
Need to replace legacy systems
Complexity of IT infrastructure
Lack of a sufficient budget
Too many competing priorities

8. 8
Investing more in AI & analytics
Question: Looking out over the next 12 months, which of the following strategies or technologies do you anticipate investing more dollars in to become a digital business?
Source: Foundry Digital Business Study, 2021; Foundry Data & Analytics Study, 2021
18%
18%
18%
18%
19%
21%
22%
30%
30%
32%
34%
38%
DevOps
Robotic process automation (RPA)
Internet of Things (IoT)
Business process management
Mobile apps
APIs/embeddable
Microservices/containers
Private cloud
Multi-cloud
Public cloud
Big data/analytics
Artificial Intelligence (AI)/machine learning (ML)
61%
of ITDMs agree that the pandemic
accelerated their organization’s
data-driven strategy

9. 9
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