The year 2023 will see more acquisitions

The Global enterprises will spend some $4.4 trillion this year on technology acquisition, and more than a quarter of this on digital transformation. Software spending is expected to grow 9.8% to $674.9 billion in 2022 and IT services is forecast to grow 6.8% to reach $1.3 trillion, as per the latest forecast by Gartner.

With new software investments approaching $700 billion, the question arises how well are these solutions being deployed to improve business execution in critical areas of e-commerce, marketing automation, customer experience, organizational collaboration and operational excellence?

Business, marketing and IT leaders around the world recognize a critical competitive imperative for technology to become a bigger driver of business innovation and growth. They overwhelmingly see the need to map and embrace digital transformation to accelerate business performance. At the same time, they also question the ability of management to lead strategically and activate resources inside and outside the enterprise to execute effectively.

A report underlines, nearly 60% of survey participants believe sustainability is either highly or moderately strategic in realizing digital enterprise transformation growth objectives. Thirty eight percent expect an increased focus in this area. Pursuant to this, some 67% say they will very likely, or somewhat likely, select a vendor who helps them reach sustainability goals through digital innovation.

According to respondents, the top five operational areas where enterprises can benefit the most from digital transformation are: 1) Digital commerce and multi-channel engagement 2) Data asset management, analytics and insights 3) Marketing automation and campaign execution 4) Revenue optimization and customer value creation and 5) Business continuity, availability and agility.

Respondents believe the success of digital change agents in using technology to modernize or streamline business processes is most influenced by their ability to: 1) Evidence where and how digital solutions will deliver improved revenue and margin 2) Show how digital transformation creates competitive advantage and shareholder value 3) Achieve buy-in and support from the CEO and the C-suite influencers.

Software applications considered most vital to modernizing and automating enterprise operations are those dedicated to 1) digital transformation 2) data analytics 3) AI and intelligent automation 4) security, in addition to 5) focused industry solutions.

Going forward, organizational resistance to change is strong and migration to new cloud-based apps and platforms from legacy systems can bring both pain and gain, particularly as it relates to adoption, use and new levels of visibility and accountability.