Enterprises could earn US$1 billion with modern IT, finds Avanade

Organisations could earn an extra US$1 billion if they implement a modern approach to IT, according to a recent study by Avanade. However, three quarters of enterprises are currently struggling to compete in the digital marketplace because of rising technology debt and a lack of cloud adoption. 

Of the 1,600 C-level executives surveyed, 76% said debt is impacting speed to market, and 74% said it is impeding their innovation and ability to retain technical staff. 

The study also showed that only 12% of respondents would describe their cloud capability as optimised, and 45% say they are still in the initial stage of the journey. However, with 88% of respondents agreeing that innovative applications directly impact growth and 94% wanting to increase sales and revenue in the next year, the study showed a consensus that cloud-based custom-built applications are valuable. 

“For organisations to be successful they need to be able to move quickly to deliver customer value that can increase sales and revenue,” said Wengert. “Mobile applications are just one example of where digital natives are using human-centred apps to disrupt established markets. Successful businesses will be those that are not afraid to experiment, that truly drive enterprise innovation and get new ideas into market faster, and more often than their competitors.”

However, enterprises appear to be struggling to harness the power of the cloud and modern product engineering, with 52% citing a lack of people and skills as the reason. 

“Agile, DevOps and other modern approaches will have a significant impact on improving reaction times and speed to market, making an organisation more product- and customer- centric,” said Wengert. “However, with the lack of inhouse skills, enterprises can find themselves further paralysed. To accelerate digital maturity, enterprises need to take a holistic approach – keeping apps, cloud and people at the forefront of their business strategy; otherwise the outlook for cloud maturity and acceleration – and indeed enterprises themselves – is not going to improve.”