Irish Businesses Face Imminent and Major Digital Transformation Challenges

A study by KingramRed has revealed that 90% of established Irish Organisations are in danger of being disrupted in the next 2 years and Irish Businesses face significant challenges in adapting to the new realities of the digital economy.

“With 70% of companies conceding that they are already facing disruption and a further 20% expecting it over the next two years, there is a clear requirement for urgent action to address the changes that are already upon us.” said David Gunning, a partner at KingramRed and co-author of the report.

In KingramRed’s investigation Irish business leaders have expressed serious concerns about their current capabilities to weather the disruption facing them or to take advantage of the turbulence to lead their competitors.

The report represents the first comprehensive assessment of how Irish companies are responding to the Digital Challenge.  The research has been carried out by KingramRed– a specialist consultancy for addressing all aspects of transformation in a digital economy. The study findings were presented at a briefing held in the National Digital Research Center (NDRC, Dublin, Ireland) on January 29th 2016

Over the last 6 months KingramRed conducted in-depth interviews with 35 organisations including PLCs, Irish subsidiaries of multinationals, privately held companies, commercial semi-state companies, NGO’s and a number of state agencies. The overall objective of the research was to determine the preparedness of Irish business to meet the challenges of the digital world that we live in. The research focused on organisations which could be regarded as incumbents, meaning they have a legacy which originated in the pre-digital world.

KEY THEMES
– Digital Skills Shortage
– Lack of understanding of the digital consumer
– Lack of senior level engagement

KEY STATISTICS
– 70% of companies believe that they are already facing disruption and a further 20% expect to be disrupted over the next two years
– While almost every company believes that the customer experience is of vital importance to their business, less than 20% have mapped their processes from a customer-experiene perspective
– More than 50% of respondents have yet to agree a digital transformation strategy at board or senior executive level
– 67% of our survey respondents believe that they do not have the skills on board to pull off successful transformation
– 62% are concerned for the ability of their current platforms to withstand disruption