Pandemic Pushes Digital Transformation from Pilots to Production as Enterprises Contend with Disruptions
The ISG Provider Lens™ report reveals that the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the shift of digital business solutions from pilot projects to commercial deliveries. Companies are striving to enhance customer connections, improve supply chains, and boost competitiveness. The report identifies four client archetypes: Traditional and conservative, Managed services focused, Transformational, and Pioneering, each with distinct needs. Key providers like Accenture and Cognizant were recognized as leaders. Ultimately, the findings highlight the increasing demand for digital transformation and emerging technologies in response to current challenges.
- Increased demand for digital transformation solutions driven by pandemic-related challenges.
- Recognition of leading providers like Accenture and Cognizant across multiple archetypes.
- Growing adoption of advanced technologies such as AI, blockchain, and IoT among enterprises.
- Many companies are facing significant operational challenges due to the pandemic, necessitating urgent digital solutions.
An acceleration in moving digital business solutions from pilots to commercial-scale deliveries, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, is causing massive changes for both enterprises and technology and service providers, according to a new report published today by Information Services Group (ISG) (Nasdaq: III), a leading global technology research and advisory firm.
The ISG Provider Lens™ Digital Business – Solutions and Service Partners Archetype report finds many companies are seeking help in connecting with customers, improving their supply chains and becoming more competitive, especially amid the pandemic. Most companies have had to radically change their modes of operation due to COVID-19, the report says.
“Digital transformation should help many enterprises come out ahead and prepare for the next major disruption to business as usual,” said Jan Erik Aase, partner and global leader, ISG Provider Lens Research. “In addition to technological change, they will need to transform established processes and traditional management practices.”
Digital business solutions and service providers increasingly are partnering with companies to plan and execute changes to digital customer experience, digital product development and deployment, digital supply chain and more, ISG says. A key part of the process often is the introduction of new approaches, including design thinking, low-code/no-code development and DevOps methodologies, that can make the organization more agile to meet new challenges and market demands.
While most companies have been tasked this year with preserving or improving productivity amid pandemic challenges, organizations at all stages of digital transformation also continue to seek ways to grow revenue streams, improve customer experience and simplify reporting and management systems, the report adds. A growing number of organizations on this journey, with the support of digital business providers, are embracing emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain and the Internet of Things, along with more established cloud and open-source capabilities.
The ISG Provider Lens™ Digital Business – Solutions and Service Partners Archetype report examines four different types of clients, or archetypes, that are looking for digital business solutions or services. The report evaluates the capabilities of 41 providers to deliver services to the four archetypes:
Traditional and conservative: These clients are mainly focused on cost reduction and are completely risk averse. They usually have a legacy-heavy enterprise IT and networking function that is often disjointed from the business and perceived as a cost center. These organizations are looking for new revenue streams, improved customer experience and lower costs. They have a roadmap for digitizing the organization and want help from service providers to take them through their journey with strategy, consulting, implementation and managed services.
Managed services focused: Clients in this archetype want a broader suite of managed services with some elements of transformation. They aspire to move from legacy siloed solutions to integrated and business-focused solutions and may plan to have digital business as an inherent business function that provides differentiation and performance/cost improvements. These enterprises focus on implementing a digitization contract for one business function as a pilot or proof of concept (PoC) and are exploring the tools and methodologies they could adopt for transformation.
Transformational: These clients are already highly virtualized and plan to further transform their infrastructure. They are born digital and create competitive advantage through digital transformation, generating revenue through IT rather than using it simply to reduce costs. A shift to managed services, in cases where it is not already used, does not have a big cultural impact on these organizations. They are prepared to adopt disruptive solutions relatively quickly through pilot projects but usually limit them to specific targeted solutions.
Pioneering: These organizations are seeking high levels of automation and orchestration through software-defined infrastructure to boost developer productivity. They are born digital, innovative by nature and often midsized with fewer internal resources, and cost implications are not a major obstacle. These clients intend to adopt advanced methodologies and technologies, such as blockchain and augmented or virtual reality, as early as possible to create or defend competitive advantage. They want to partner and collaborate with service providers through new mechanisms such as profit-sharing or outcome-based pricing.
Among the providers ISG evaluated, Accenture, Cognizant, IBM, Tech Mahindra, T-Systems and Wipro were named leaders across all four archetypes. Atos and Hexaware were named leaders across three of the archetypes, and HCL, Mindtree and TCS across two archetypes. Capgemini, DXC, Fujitsu and Infosys each was named a leader in one archetype.
The ISG Provider Lens™ Digital Business – Solutions and Service Partners Archetype report is available to subscribers or for immediate, one-time purchase on this webpage.
About ISG Provider Lens™ Research
The ISG Provider Lens™ research series is the only service provider evaluation of its kind to combine empirical, data-driven research and market analysis with the real-world experience and observations of ISG's global advisory team. Enterprises will find a wealth of detailed data and market analysis to help guide their selection of appropriate sourcing partners, while ISG advisors use the reports to validate their own market knowledge and make recommendations to ISG's enterprise clients. The research currently covers providers offering their services globally, across Europe and Latin America, as well as in the U.S., Germany, Switzerland, the U.K., France, the Nordics, Brazil and Australia/New Zealand, with additional markets to be added in the future. For more information about ISG Provider Lens research, please visit this webpage.
ISG Provider Lens Archetype reports offer a first-of-its-kind evaluation of providers from the perspective of specific buyer types.
About ISG
ISG (Information Services Group) (Nasdaq: III) is a leading global technology research and advisory firm. A trusted business partner to more than 700 clients, including more than 75 of the world’s top 100 enterprises, ISG is committed to helping corporations, public sector organizations, and service and technology providers achieve operational excellence and faster growth. The firm specializes in digital transformation services, including automation, cloud and data analytics; sourcing advisory; managed governance and risk services; network carrier services; strategy and operations design; change management; market intelligence and technology research and analysis. Founded in 2006, and based in Stamford, Conn., ISG employs more than 1,300 digital-ready professionals operating in more than 20 countries—a global team known for its innovative thinking, market influence, deep industry and technology expertise, and world-class research and analytical capabilities based on the industry’s most comprehensive marketplace data. For more information, visit www.isg-one.com.
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