Do Loyalty Marketers Have a Handle on Digital Transformation?

Digital transformation initiatives are viewed as positive forms of customer engagement for loyalty marketers, yet according to a new study from Dell, most companies don’t realize the extent to which their own business is digitally transforming.

While 89% of all survey respondents recognize digital transformation is happening in their respective industries, only 50% believe it’s happening in their organization, according to Dell’s global Digital Transformation Security Survey. Only 27% actually describe their company as “in the middle of a digital transformation.” But, 72% noted active projects in mobile, with 68% involved in cloud projects and 37% in IoT.
While digital transformation is a fast-growing reality in business, survey results show that security often is seen as a barrier to digital transformation. Responders, however, said that security teams can serve as enablers in helping the business adopt digital technologies when included early in the planning process.

What’s more, 97% of respondents indicated they are investing in digital technologies, including mobile, cloud applications, cloud infrastructures, and IoT; 96%  say securing digital technologies poses challenges including lack of resources, risk of a security breach, finding the right balance between security and employee productivity, and loss of control.

Some other key survey findings include:

Only 18% of respondents say security has been involved in all mobile, IoT, cloud and self-service initiatives
More than three in four (76%) of respondents believe security is brought in too late to digital transformation initiatives

85% say business users avoid engaging with security teams out of concern that their initiatives might be blocked. But 63% say those concerns are unfounded

More than 90% of respondents say the security team can better enable the business if given more resources
In the survey, 631 IT decision-makers with responsibility for security responded to questions on the impact of digital transformation on security teams. The survey was conducted across the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Australia, and the Nordic countries, as well as Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg.

Results revealed a significant level of adoption of key digital technologies, clear business drivers, and expected future growth and investment in digital transformation. Multiple business drivers were identified, with increased employee productivity and business growth topping the list, and respondents said investments in digital technologies will continue to grow in the coming year. IoT is expected to be the technology with the most new adoption in the future, with 55% reporting plans to adopt these technologies. 

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