Tag: enterprise

“Do More with Less” Will Be Driving Force for Enterprises in 2024 — Everest Group

The Everest Group 2024 Key Issues Study reveals revenue growth and cost optimization as the top-most business priorities of enterprise executives for the coming year. ‘Cost and margin pressures’ rank as the No. 1 challenge while talent acquisition drops to No. 8.

 

DALLAS, December 8, 2023 — 2024 will be the year of doing more with less, according to the results of the Everest Group 2024 Key Issues Study of enterprise executives. Top priorities for enterprises for the year ahead are revenue growth and a continued emphasis on cost optimization. Talent acquisition, which dominated enterprise concerns just two years ago, is no longer among the Top 5 expected challenges, falling to No. 8 from previous No.1 and No. 3 positions in expectations for 2022 and 2023, respectively.

“’Do more with less’ will be the mandate in 2024 for both enterprises and service providers,” said Hrishi Raj Agarwalla, vice president at Everest Group. “Enterprise leaders in our 2024 Key Issues Study are clearly focused on lowering costs and increasing profitability and will be placing high expectations on service providers with little room for rate increases. Enterprise spending in 2024 will be directed toward modernizing technology, data analytics and process optimization. We’ll certainly see a ramp-up in GenAI investment as organizations continue to explore use cases and try to keep pace with the rapid changes AI is bringing. Overall, our research indicates that 2024 will be a ‘nose to the grindstone’ year of improving operational efficiency.”

***Webinar: Key Issues 2024: Creating Accelerated Value in a Dynamic World***

Everest Group will present the findings of its 2024 Key Issues Study in a December 12 webinar.  Everest Group experts will discuss the major concerns, expectations, and trends for 2024 and provide recommendations on how to drive accelerated value from global services – helping position organizations to plan and align goals and succeed in 2024. ***Register for the webinar here.***

Following are a few of the findings from the 2024 Key Issues Study that will be discussed in the webinar:

 

New Technologies Drive Optimism

Although “bullish” may be too strong an adjective to use about enterprise expectations for 2024, the majority of enterprise executives are optimistic about the evolution and adoption of new technologies (76%) and positive changes in customer interest and purchasing behavior (52%). However, 75% of executives believed global macroeconomic conditions will have a negative influence on their business in 2024. Similarly, 68% of executives believe the geopolitical environment will pose challenges in the year ahead.

 

The Global IT-BP Services Industry Will Continue to Grow and Shift

A vast majority of enterprises (82%) expect their global services budgets either to remain flat (39%) or increase in 2024 (43%). The headcount growth is also expected to be lower than 2023. Further, enterprises expect to increase the leverage of Global Business Services and offshore locations.

 

New Investment Priorities

The key levers executives plan to use to achieve their business goals in the coming year include operational levers such as:

  • Technology modernization
  • Data analytics and insights
  • Process optimization and operational efficiency

 

Productivity and Resilience Will Drive Technology Investments

Executives ranked cybersecurity as the highest priority technology investment for the next six to 12 months, followed by cloud solutions, advanced automation, big data analytics and generative AI (GenAI). Enterprises are still early in their GenAI adoption cycles. Due to a lack of in-house capabilities, many enterprises are turning to service providers for help in integrating GenAI into their operations. Most executives (67%) expect GenAI to improve or transform workflows in functional areas.

 

About Everest Group

Everest Group is a leading research firm helping business leaders make confident decisions. We guide clients through today’s market challenges and strengthen their strategies by applying contextualized problem-solving to their unique situations. This drives maximized operational and financial performance and transformative experiences. Our deep expertise and tenacious research focused on technology, business processes, and engineering through the lenses of talent, sustainability, and sourcing delivers precise and action-oriented guidance. Find further details and in-depth content at www.everestgrp.com.

From Vision to Reality: Defining a Net Zero Pathway for Enterprises | LinkedIn Live

LINKEDIN LIVE

From Vision to Reality: Defining a Net Zero Pathway for Enterprises

View the event on LinkedIn, which was delivered live on Tuesday, October 10, 2023.

The rapid transition to a net zero economy stands as the paramount concern of the decade to address the climate crisis 💫, demanding attention and action from government and enterprises.

However, enterprises are facing challenges on their net zero journeys, including limited financial and technical resources, a lack of clear guidelines and frameworks, and the complicated task of transforming their operations and supply chains.

📣 📣Join this LinkedIn Live session to hear our expert analysts discuss how enterprises can navigate complex regulatory frameworks, define a net zero pathway 🎢, and implement their sustainability strategy. We’ll examine the current net zero tech and services market and analyze trends and key drivers shaping demand-supply dynamics.

What questions will the event answer for participants?

✅What challenges do global 🌍 enterprises in various industries face on their net zero journeys?
✅What are the key demand themes in the market that sustainability leaders across the globe are following to accelerate their path to net zero?💹
✅What are the key trends shaping the net zero technology and services market?

Nitish Mittal
Babiche Veenendaal-Westerbrink
Arpita Dwivedi

The APAC Cloud Market Landscape: Restructuring Your Cloud Strategy | Webinar

on-demand WEBINAR

The APAC Cloud Market Landscape: Restructuring Your Cloud Strategy

Enterprises in the Asia Pacific (APAC) region are consuming cloud at a faster rate than in other geographies. But as the cloud adoption frenzy cools, enterprises will need to realign their cloud journeys to address the unique challenges of the APAC market.

In this webinar, Everest Group’s experts will provide buyers and service providers insights into the latest developments, emerging patterns, and potential opportunities of the APAC cloud landscape.

Our speakers will discuss:

  • What does the existing APAC cloud market landscape look like, and what are its challenges?
  • How can your enterprise map its cloud journey?
  • What are the external and internal factors impacting the enterprise cloud journey?
  • How can you redefine a value-focused enterprise cloud journey?

Who should attend?

  • CIOs and CTOs
  • Service providers
  • IT strategy heads
  • Heads of cloud solutions/competency
  • Heads of outsourcing
  • Procurement managers
  • IT department heads
  • Global sourcing managers
  • Vendor managers
  • Senior marketing executives
  • Heads of sales

Web 3.0 and Metaverse: Implications for Sourcing and Technology Leaders | Webinar

ON-DEMAND WEBINAR

Web 3.0 and Metaverse: Implications for Sourcing and Technology Leaders

The next evolution of technology is upon us, and business leaders are racing to understand new concepts like Web 3.0 and Metaverse – both generating strong reactions from hype acceptance to extreme cynicism. Regardless, organizations that explore the business benefits, experiment early, and work with the right partners are bound to see the full potential of both.

In the coming years, we expect to see business adoption of Web 3.0 and Metaverse in some form or another, as they evolve and expand business boundaries.

Watch this on-demand webinar as our experts deliver their perspectives on Web 3.0 and Metaverse and provide actionable insights to enterprises, service providers, and technology vendors.

What questions will the webinar answer?

  • What is Web 3.0 and Metaverse?
  • How are these relevant to your business?
  • What should you do to source services and technology for these?

Who should attend?

  • CTOs, CDOs, CHROs, CXOs
  • Digital engineering leaders
  • Cloud and edge leaders
  • Heads of sourcing
  • Vendor managers
  • Mixed reality leaders
  • Extended reality leaders
  • Metaverse architects

Digital Transformation: The Rise of New CEO, the Chief Everything Officer | Sherpas in Blue Shirts

There’s a mind-numbing alphabet soup of C-level titles in today’s enterprises. Beyond the standards, there’s also Chief Digital Officer, Chief Robotics Officer, Chief Automation Officer, Chief Cognitive Officer, Chief Customer Officer, Chief Experience Officer, and so on.

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO), of course, is the one on whom the organization most depends, as “the buck stops there.” Historically, the CEO typically engaged with the Chief Finance Officer, Chief Strategy Officer, and Chief Operating Officer. The CEO set the long term strategy, and the organization executed it. And the CEO was considered great if he or she could be the face of the organization to drive broader strategy, business development, and market leadership.

Digital transformation and disruption is evolving the role of CEO

But digital disruption is driving massive transformation in the shape and flavor of the CEO’s role. While expected outcomes continue to be largely the same, today’s CEO must be technologically savvy, and must possess a techno-centric business view, not only to be the champion of digital transformation but also to take along the other C-level executives.

As digital transformation shrinks “front-to-back” processes, the CEO needs to understand the newer, shorter value chain, and how it makes the enterprise more competitive and relevant. Understanding this new world will also assist the CEO to be the best judge of digital transformation in the organization, rather than completely relying on business consultants.

Unfortunately, a lot of businesses are doing the opposite of what is needed. They are creating layers between the business and CEO by creating titles that serve as the “channel” to the CEO or the ear of the CEO. While this worked before digital disruption started creating havoc, innovation can now come from any part of the organization, and the CEO needs to be connected to that part.

Indeed, the CEO should ideally be the driver of digital transformation. Therefore, if the CEO does not understand Twitter, he/she can’t proactively suggest that as a channel to the HR team. If the CEO does not understand mobility, he/she can never outthink disruption or reimagine the business model. Of course, the CEO would have business leaders driving such change, (e.g., the HR head or CTO), but without the CEO’s proactive involvement and understanding of these fundamentally disruptive models, the enterprise won’t be able to derive business value.

The new kind of CEO needed in the age of digital transformation

What enterprises really need is a new CEO – a Chief Everything Officer. This is a C-level executive who understands everything in the digital landscape…the market, competition, customer, and, of course, technology. This CEO directly understands how digital disruption can impact different parts of the organization in order to create a vision for the enterprise that cannot be obtained from reliance on other C-level executives. Sure, the CEO would have a lot more bandwidth if other C-level executives were driving digital adoption. But that bandwidth would be valueless as the organization would be set up to fail. The reality is that digital transformation is not a project, but rather a business in and of itself. And the CEO must drive it in order to create meaningful value.

Is your company’s CEO the “Everything” he or she needs to be to enable the enterprise to compete and thrive in the midst of digital disruption?

Nearly Half of All Sourcing Investments Leave Enterprises Unsatisfied | Press Release

But in performance rankings, TCS, Cognizant, HCL, Accenture and L&T Infotech are honored for creating best ‘overall experience’ for clients

Despite large-scale investments by service providers, 48 percent of enterprises surveyed by Everest Group are not satisfied with their service provider’s performance. In particular, service providers are performing poorly as “strategic partners” for enterprises and score an average rating of five on a scale of one to ten.

There are also significant gaps in enterprises’ expectations and service providers’ performance with respect to innovation, creative engagement models and day-to-day project management.

“Most service providers are perceived to be technically competent, but technical expertise and domain expertise are considered ‘table stakes’ by enterprises across industries,” said Chirajeet Sengupta, partner at Everest Group.  “Enterprises now expect their service providers to move beyond day-to-day delivery and focus on larger strategic business issues. Unfortunately, service providers still have a long way to go to meaningfully engage clients and become strategic partners, and that is a significant concern for the industry. This research signals the wake-up call and offers service providers guidance on how to strategize their engagement approach and prioritize investments to meet mounting customer expectations.”

In general, enterprises believe that mid- and small-sized service providers bring considerably more innovation and engagement flexibility than their larger counterparts. In fact, enterprises believe some large service providers have become lethargic and complacent and are indifferent to client requirements.

In contrast to these sentiments, five predominantly large service providers received the honor of creating the best “overall experience” for clients, based on client commentary and weighted aggregate ratings given by interviewed enterprises on key assessment dimensions.

  • Accenture: Accenture is perceived to bring market-leading domain expertise to solve complex problems and drive business outcomes.
  • Cognizant: Clients appreciate Cognizant’s approach to becoming their strategic partner as well as its flexibility in commercial constructs.
  • HCL: HCL is perceived to be extremely flexible in commercial models and strong in retaining key talent in its client accounts.
  • L&T Infotech: L&T Infotech is perceived to provide strong commercial flexibility as well as domain competence in the specific industries it operates in.
  • Tata Consultancy Services: Enterprises appreciate TCS’s technical capabilities and initiatives to drive strategic partnership with clients.

These results and other findings are explored in a recently published Everest Group report: “Customer (Dis)Satisfaction: Why Are Enterprises Unhappy with Their Service Providers?” The research summarizes over 130 interviews conducted with enterprises across the globe regarding the capabilities of their service providers with respect to applications, digital, cloud and infrastructure services. The report also details the technology investment priorities of enterprises and opportunity areas for service providers.

***Download Complimentary High-Resolution Graphics***

Key takeaways from the research findings are summarized in a set of high-resolution graphics available for complimentary download here. The graphics may be included in news coverage, with attribution to Everest Group.

The graphics include:

  • (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction: Nearly half of all enterprises are dissatisfied with their IT service providers
  • Enterprises’ technology investment priorities largely focused on innovation
  • IT service delivery: performance versus value
  • Size matters in selecting an IT services provider
  • The top 5 IT services providers

Lacking a Clear Path to Digital Nirvana? You’re Not Alone | Sherpas in Blue Shirts

While enterprises that correctly embrace digital stand to gain great rewards – not the least of which is survival – Everest Group research shows that the road to success is not a straight shot.

As an organization begins its digital journey, its initial investments are focused on streamlining the existing IT landscape to prepare for future digital initiatives. During this phase, enterprise IT generally focuses attention on traditional internal-to-IT success measures (cost, control, and compliance), and there is little need for redesign, nor much involvement from the broader organization. As a result, perceived barriers to adoption are few, and enterprises feel confident about the outcome of their technology investments – the journey looks clear and easy.

But just as the enterprise thinks it is on a clear path to digital nirvana, it hits a speedbump that threatens to wreck its transmission and send it spinning off the road. Once the initial streamlining work is done, the next phase requires the IT and business functions to work together to achieve digital goals, which requires significant change.

Suddenly, what seemed easy becomes much more complicated, requiring the enterprise face challenges such as:

  • Effectively measuring and demonstrating the beneficial outcomes of digital investments
  • Overcoming the inertia of redesigning long-standing business processes and changing end-user behavior
  • Addressing legacy technology challenges, a significant talent crunch, and behavioral change management

And lest you think you can find an alternative path to avoid this barrier, beware: our research indicates that nearly half – 43 percent – of North American enterprises are caught in this murky area we call the “Digital Trough.”

 

What should you do when you’ve hit the Digital Trough?

Just as failure to address problems with your car’s undercarriage can lead to erosion of your transmission, failure to address problems in the Digital Trough can lead to erosion of executive support for your digital transformation.

Here are a few strategies you can use to continue your digital adoption journey and reap the longer-term rewards of digital transformation:

  • Design a set of metrics that measure digital investments on a clear set of efficiency or growth objectives
  • Shift from a technology bolt-on view to a business process-centric view, with rigorous processes for evaluating new technologies against business efficiency or growth metrics
  • Leverage digital technologies for larger end-to-end processes to capture scope and scale benefits across the organization

The last point addresses the necessity for a pervasive approach to digital adoption (see our So You Think You’re Digital blog) as the benefits of a converged, end-to-end digital strategy significantly outweigh those of an isolated, piecemeal approach.

Once past the Digital Trough, our research suggests that the path to digital success is smoother…and well worth the trip.

To learn more about digital adoption patterns in North America, check out our just released research report, North American Digital Adoption Survey – How pervasive is your digital strategy.

Our readers are also very interested in hearing about your experiences with digital adoption. Are you suffering the impacts of the Digital Trough? Feel free to share your thoughts and comments.


Photo credit: Flickr

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