In the last issue of AVAIL, we featured Sungard Availability Services-commissioned Tame the Bear research into the impact of cloud computing, focusing on the financial services sector.
You may recall the survey, conducted by specialist IT research agency Vanson Bourne, questioned 700 IT decision-makers and 1,400 office workers from businesses in the UK, Ireland, France, Sweden and the US.
We now look at how these technological changes are affecting some other well-established industries…
Manufacturing sector held back by legacy systems
Technology is revolutionising the manufacturing industry with cloud computing playing a pivotal role in driving supply chain efficiencies and increasing product output while reducing costs. In a volatile global market, it also gives IT the flexibility to spin up and down according to demand. But much of the manufacturing sector still relies on legacy applications and attempting to integrate these systems with the new technology needed to bring them into the modern, digital-centric era is a complex task.
The upshot is that while 80% of manufacturers think digital transformation is vital, over a third of their employees believe their organisation is not committed enough to achieving it.
Promise and potential pratfalls for retail sector
Retailers find technology can be a double-edged sword. From delivering customer insights to helping them cope with often dramatic fluctuations in seasonal traffic and phenomena like Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Christmas, it offers retailers great opportunities when things are running well. However, the flip side is that the sector’s heavy dependence on technology means the potential for disaster has also increased when things go wrong and consumer expectations are not met.
And while digital transformation is a priority for 88% of retailers, almost a quarter (24%) of employees do not understand how to use the shiny new digital tools their employer has provided to them.
Public sector has yet to get its claws into digital transformation
As for the public sector, the research suggests the public sector does not have the same commitment to digital transformation as their private sector peers. This is a mistake as it offers improved efficiency and effectiveness of IT – crucial in this age of the always-on citizen. This sector is missing out on the improvements made possible by digital tools, which could help transform perceptions of the sector and lure talent away from the private sector.
Public sector respondents expressed the biggest concern for security of all the sectors (39%) surveyed. But with government ‘digital first’ initiatives and the need to build confidence in Britain at every level as we broker our exit from the EU, the public sector cannot afford to lag behind in the move towards digital transformation.
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