Digital Crisis: 78% of Businesses Feel Threatened by Start-ups

• 78% of Businesses Feel Threatened by Start-ups

About 78 per cent of businesses believe digital start-ups will threaten their organisations, either now or in the future. This phenomenon is propelling innovative companies forward and accelerating the demise of others.  Almost 45 per cent of global businesses fear they may become obsolete in the next three to five years due to competition from digital-born start-ups.

According to new research from Dell Technologies, some companies are feeling badly bruised by the pace of change. More than half (52 per cent) of business leaders have experienced significant disruption in their industries over the past three years as a result of digital technologies and the Internet of Everything (IoE), and 48 per cent of global businesses don’t know what their industry will look like in three years’ time.

The findings result was from an independent survey by Vanson Bourne of 4,000 business leaders — from mid-size to large enterprises — across 16 countries and12 industries.

“So far, the fourth industrial revolution has proved as ruthless as its predecessors. If companies cannot keep up, they will fall behind … or worse. The ‘delay until another day’ approach simply won’t work,” explains Jeremy Burton, chief marketing officer for Dell Technologies.

According to the report, progress has been patchy to say the least. Some companies have barely started their digital transformation. Many have taken a piecemeal approach. Only a small minority have almost completed their digital transformation. Just one in three businesses surveyed is performing critical digital business attributes well. While only parts of many businesses are thinking and acting digitally, the vast majority (73 per cent) admits digital transformation could be more widespread throughout their organisations.

About six in 10 companies are unable to meet customers’ top demands, such as better security and 24/7 faster access to services and information. Nearly two-thirds (64 per cent) confess to not acting on intelligence in real-time.

“These are imperatives for success in a digital age. Failing to deliver in such a highly contested marketplace could trigger the beginning of a digital crisis,” added the result.

Dell Technologies’ Digital Transformation Index supplements the research and rates companies based on respondents’ perceived performance about their firms’ digital transformation. According to the benchmark, only five per cent of businesses have catapulted themselves into the Digital Leaders group; almost half are lagging behind.

The result showed that under Digital Leaders, only five per cent          of digital transformation, in its various forms, is ingrained in the DNA of the business while in the area of Digital Adopters, 14 per cent has a mature digital plan, investments and innovations in place.

For Digital Evaluators, 34 per cent cautiously and gradually embracing digital transformation, planning and investing for the future while 32 per cent have very few digital investments; tentatively starting to plan for the future classified as Digital Followers.

Another 15 per cent of those examined do not have a digital plan, limited initiatives and investments in place. They are referred to as Digital Laggards.

Given the acute threat of disruption, businesses are starting to escalate a remedy which it called digital remedy plan.