The digital acceleration gap is widening with 55% of senior business leaders surveyed in a study say their digital strategy is outpaced by business demands, according to a study. 

While finance, HR, and IT leaders recognise the importance of digital transformation, digital strategy is always or often outpaced by the demands of the business, finds the study conducted by enterprise cloud applications company Workday. As a result, the digital acceleration gap is widening, where business needs are changing faster than the technology, processes, and culture required to keep pace. “In response, leaders are adopting a more sustained approach to transformation by prioritising access to data and employee experience.”

To help close the acceleration gap, business leaders across the three functions are focusing on unified data, employee experience and breaking down data silos to drive automation.

“Digital transformation is no longer a choice – it’s necessary to keep pace in today’s changing world. Yet, as the study shows, there’s an acceleration gap organisations need to address to help ensure their digital journeys keep pace with the growing and evolving demands of their business,” said Pete Schlampp, chief strategy officer, Workday. 

More than half of finance leaders (51%) say that one of the most important elements to accelerating planning, execution, and analysis cycles is new technologies that can help integrate data between disparate systems and break down internal data silos. Yet, 61% say that technology that unifies financial, people, and operational data is their most pressing need, with 64% admitting that it takes weeks — or more — to get results at the end of a reporting period.

Amid the Great Resignation, organisations increasingly focused on skills to help improve recruiting, retention, and overall employee experiences. According to the survey, 25% of HR leaders rank resilience and adaptability first among skills that will ensure teams can continuously meet business demands as they evolve.  

While CIOs hold the key to data-fueled transformation, many are overwhelmed by the pace of change as legacy constraints and data silos are top barriers to digital transformation, according to the survey. 

Only 42% of IT leaders are confident in their teams’ ability to adopt cloud technologies without legacy constraints. Further, half of IT leaders (50%) are struggling to keep pace with service upgrades as part of legacy technology, with 59% saying it can take weeks or months to change an automated business process.

The study aimed at understanding the impact of digital transformation on three core business functions is based on a survey of 1,150 senior business leaders in North America, Europe, and the Asia Pacific region across 13 industries.