Only 13 percent companies use digital for both growth and efficiency: Report

· IAMAI – Accenture India joint study encompasses 931 senior executives from large companies across 21 countries including India
· Survey focuses on deployment of digital technologies to drive efficiency and customer experiences

Chandigarh, December 14, 2017: A recent joint survey by Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and Accenture India found that 34 percent of the companies focus on digital to unlock new levels of efficiency where as 44 percent utilise digital to drive new sources of growth. However only 13 percent companies use digital to drive both growth and efficiency. Report further states that 64 percent of the executives fear for their company’s survival if they are unable to deliver on these two imperatives with their digital investments. The report was unveiled at Chief Digital Officers’ Summit organised by IAMAI.

Companies no longer perceive digitization as an end state. Instead it is an ongoing process aimed at two objectives: Greater operating efficiency and New customer experiences. Realising the potential of digitization, 96 percent of the senior executives surveyed, say that they are investing in digital to pursue these twin goals. Some of the leading retail companies for example have started leveraging digital technologies such as virtual reality to enhance in-store customer experiences and drive sales simultaneously adopting digital to optimize operations and achieve higher operational efficiencies.

In an era when over 800 million individuals across the globe are keen to consume hyper- personalized experiences, as many as 84 percent of the executives across sectors believe that delivering differentiated customer experiences will strengthen their competitive advantage. HDFC for instance, uses a combination of technologies to create OnChat, a virtual customer-service assistant which allows customers to carry out transactions and request services by simply typing in a message. This has enabled the company to deliver improved customer experiences.

Mr. Rajan Anandan, Chairman, IAMAI & Managing Director, Google India, said “India today has over 400 million internet users, 300 million of them having access to internet on their smartphones. Regardless of which industry you are in today digital transformation is absolutely critical and very important to understand how your consumers are evolving, how their behaviours are changing, how their purchasing journeys are changing and then evolve your products and services to be able to delight the consumers. I am very excited about the event that is happening today as well as the CDO handbook that is being launched today and I think it’s going to be a must have for every single CXO in the country.”

Combine technologies to get the best results from digitization
The research shows that combining technologies leads to higher savings and greater enterprise value. In the Indian automotive sector, if the average company uses autonomous robots, artificial intelligence, blockchain, big data analytics, and 3D printing, in combination, it can raise productivity equivalent to $63,000 per employee in savings. With an average payroll of 33,000 employees, that translates into savings of more than US$2 billion per company, on average. It is estimated that oil and gas companies could gain more than US$16 billion in market capitalization if they were to combine augmented and virtual reality, big data, artificial intelligence, digital twin and autonomous robots.

“Rapid changes to technology coupled with falling technology costs and an easier access to capital is leading to never before envisaged technology led innovations. This pace of technology change is unlocking unique digital opportunities for organizations which they can harness to achieve extraordinary gains. Therefore, a Chief Digital Officer (CDO) will play a critical role in defining the digital reinvention roadmap which complements the organization’s business journey. CDOs must use their deep understanding of the business and vast knowledge of the digital tools, to steer the entire organization through the journey of digital reinvention,” said Mr. Nachiket Sukhtankar, Senior Managing Director for Accenture’s technology practice in India.

The joint IAMAI – Accenture India survey conducted in 2017, interviewed 931 senior executives from large companies mostly with turnover exceeding US$ 1 billion and spread across 12 manufacturing and production industries. It covered companies in Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, India, Ireland, Japan, Mexico, Norway, South Korea, Singapore, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, The Netherlands, the UK and USA. Out of the 931 companies, 29 were headquartered in India, representing industries such as Automotive, Communications & Hi-Tech, Consumer Goods, Oil & Gas, and Life Sciences.