Global market trends are accelerating to increase the pressure on commercial and government organizations. It’s time to stop dabbling in discrete customer-facing digital projects and take the plunge towards digitization.
The annual CGI outlook has amassed the results of in-person conversations with leaders from 10 industries and 20 countries. According to CGI President and CEO Micheal E. Roach, Canadian organizations are standing on a precipice of transformation.
“We have not seen such clarity of market dynamics since Y2K, which was a system-centric, point-in-time event that did not create competitive business value,” Roach said. “Today, there is a need to create sustainable business model change that will help organizations better run, change and grow over the next decade.”
The future of such business models rests in digitization.
“In this year’s CGI Global 1000, we saw tremendous alignment around organizations’ need to implement more expansive digital transformation by modernizing and connecting their legacy systems to a digital business and operating model,” he explains.
Organizations have identified the trends driving these needs. The top five key trends are as follows:
- Consumers’ digital behaviours. Digital experiences in banking, retail and services means that customers expect personalized and seamless procedures.
- Evolving security. Cybersecurity programs are developing from reactive and compliance-based to proactive and integrated into value propositions.
- Regulatory demands. This one’s a no-brainer. Year after year, privacy and data protection laws continue to be thorns in the sides of businesses.
- Demand for transformation. One third of business leaders note that a structural change of business models is critical for survival in the digital age.
- IT driving change. 30 per cent of organizations believe that technology is no longer a mere enabler, but a key driver. 70 per cent of leaders are making sure to increase or maintain their IT budgets to facilitate the transformation.
Change is never easy, and leaders are struggling to keep up with demands. 70 per cent cite implementing internal change as their top challenge. And it’s a challenge with a looming deadline.
“The timeframe organizations thought they had to address digital transformation has compressed and they must accelerate their digital agenda,” said Doug McCuaig, Executive Vice-President, Global Client Transformation. “Leaders recognize they must address their most complex challenges, such as changing the cost structure for running legacy platforms to invest in digital transformation. These are CEO-level decisions that result in business executives leading more and more technology initiatives and at a faster pace than traditional IT modernization.”
