Greg Doone –
The key behaviours t
hat correlate strong digital investment to profitability for New Zealand businesses have been highlighted by PwC New Zealand’s 2015 Global Digital IQ Survey.
This survey represents the most comprehensive comparison of New Zealand’s digital landscape, to global best practices, carried out to date.
Tipping point
As organisations in New Zealand and across the globe continue to invest heavily in digital technology, leadership teams are under pressure to translate this considerable investment into real returns and our analysis of this year’s survey data reveals clear signs that 2015 is a tipping point.
It is the behaviours identified in the report that lead to better performance and the findings are consistent with what PwC’s own experts are seeing in the market. Companies that effectively use business data, investments are made for competitive advantage, and that have a multi-year digital roadmap, for example, are the ones who are maximising their investments.
Growth potential
Our survey findings and analysis show that companies responding to the Digital IQ survey with the highest scores across these behaviours identified in the report are 50% more likely to achieve rapid revenue growth and twice as likely to achieve rapid profit growth when compared to the remaining Digital IQ respondents.
says, “While virtually all companies say they are investing more in digital technology, the top-performing organisations understand how to best apply the technology so that it becomes a mind-set.
Increasingly, the leaders are recognising that digital is far more than technology.
It is driving fundamental change in consumer and staff behaviour and this, in turn, has cultural and work practice implications beyond the technology itself.
Late start
New Zealand organisations have had a late start compared to global leaders but they are catching up quickly.
Where it was noticeably absent three years ago, digital strategy has now become an integral part of everyday boardroom discussions.
This leadership engagement in digital is another strong factor contributing to growth. It is now very common for a board or an executive team member to mention a recent trip to Silicon Valley or another technology hotspot to expand their digital outlook.
Renewed focus
Overall, there is a renewed focus by New Zealand businesses on digital strategy and those investments are starting to pay dividends.
There is a desire and a drive to embrace digital thinking, as well as a recognition that New Zealand companies need to invest more in this thinking to keep up with organisations around the world and customer expectations here at home.
Greg Doone is Digital Strategy and Data Leader at PricewaterhouseCoopers New Zealand.
Ten critical digital factors that correlate with stronger financial performance
The executives responsible for digital are involved in setting high-level business strategy.
Business-aligned digital strategy is agreed upon and shared at the C-level.
We actively engage with external sources to gather new ideas for applying emerging technologies.
Digital enterprise investments are made primarily for competitive advantage.
We effectively utilise all the data we capture to drive business value.
We have a single, multi-year digital enterprise roadmap that includes business capabilities and processes as well as digital and IT components.
Our Chief Executive Officer is a champion for digital.
Business and digital strategy are well communicated enterprise-wide.
We proactively evaluate and plan for security and privacy risks in digital enterprise projects.
We consistently measure outcomes from our digital technology investments.
