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Infosys Digital Radar 2019: Enabling Transformation through Salesforce

By Jeff Kavanaugh, Harry Keir Hughes June 2019   |   Report   |   20 min read   |   Email this report   |   Download
Visionary incumbent organisations understand that their future viability depends on learning to think and act like digital natives. The road to full visionary status is difficult, with a need to operate more and more key digital initiatives at scale, whilst amplifying core parts of the business. Based on the findings of the Infosys Digital Radar 2019 report, and with insight into customer-centric transformation using Salesforce, this paper sets out a possible method for leaders to position their company for success.
Infosys Digital Radar 2019: Enabling Transformation through Salesforce

It’s difficult to be visionary

“AI and digital transformation will have a more profound impact on humanity than electricity or fire”

– Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google

In early 2018, Infosys surveyed more than 1,000 senior management level executives working in large organisations around the world with more than 5,000 employees and over US $1 billion in annual revenue. We found that incumbent organisations (as opposed to digital natives) fall into three clusters determined by their progress along the digital transformation journey:

It’s difficult to be visionary

With many organisations rapidly intensifying their digital transformation efforts, Infosys conducted a new survey in November 2018 to gauge the pace of that change. This new survey shows that the percentage of visionaries among survey respondents has remained essentially unchanged, but many companies have migrated upward from the watcher to the explorer level (see Exhibit 1). These findings match what executives have told us – companies can advance from the watcher to the explorer level without herculean effort, but reaching the visionary level is significantly more difficult, and often requires amplifying core parts of the business, whilst remaining open to the possibility of letting a partner take the helm.

During 2018, more watchers moved to explorers, while visionaries held steady

Getting ahead in a customer-first market

Almost every incumbent is being pushed by disruptors or peers to transform digitally. Stephen Lynch, CIO for Consumer Banking at a leading US financial institution, believes that the pace and magnitude of the current technology-driven changes are unprecedented.

“Organisations have never had to transform in this manner before,” he says. “It’s very exciting — almost on par with the launch of the Internet. It’s changing the economy so fast that we’re going to need all the global thought power we can get.”

– Stephen Lynch CIO for Consumer Banking at a leading US financial institution

Many companies will only survive if they become digital transformation visionaries. “Digital natives are growing fast and getting to billion-dollar valuations in record time,” points out Rohit Setia, Executive Director IT at Estée Lauder. “We’re an explorer, but to survive, we need to become a visionary organisation. It’s a struggle to get there.”

In this new connected world, customers are leveraging and adopting new digital technologies in new ways – with needs and habits changing every month.

These customers are better informed than ever and expect high-quality, frictionless customer experiences and enhanced services at lower costs and in a timely manner. If businesses get digital right, these customers are also more satisfied and loyal in the long run. McKinsey research among telecommunications shows that customers who use digital channels are one-third more satisfied than those who rely on traditional channels. Some incumbents unable to keep up with the pace of this technological change have already succumbed to competitive pressures. Many more will likely fall by the wayside. To avoid being blindsided by competitors and stay relevant, companies must find ways to transform their products, processes and business models using digitally-enabled approaches and technologies, always with the customer in mind.

Digital initiatives at scale

The study that Infosys conducted in November 2018 took a closer look at the transformation journey of organisations.

Infosys identified 22 digital initiatives and then asked respondents where their companies stood on implementing each initiative:

  1. Not started (or in planning)
  2. Completed multiple proofs of concept
  3. Completed pilot projects
  4. Operating at scale

We built a Digital Maturity Index where each company was assigned an index score from 0 to 100 according to its progress in pursuing and implementing the 22 initiatives. As can be seen from Exhibit 2, there are many more explorers than watchers and visionaries.

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