One in three organisations still lack a clear path to digital transformation

PFU (EMEA) Limited has unveiled the findings of the Fujitsu Image Scanner Organisational Intelligence Survey 2020, a landmark research project into the state of digital transformation in Europe. The study, which examines the level to which organisations are forging a path to digital transformation projects shows that 35% do not yet have a clear plan in place, hampering their ability to operate in increasingly competitive environments. The research also finds:

·         Digital transformation is a challenge for 50% of organisations

·         61% believe it is impossible to become completely paperless

·         86% say managing the amount of information in their business is a challenge, highlighting the imperative need to digitally transform

·         80% turn to external experts for support along the digital transformation journey

·         Almost a quarter (24%) said they have lost important documents. and 23% said they have experienced inaccurate decision-making because of how information is organised

Despite many not having a clear path to digital transformation, 86% say that managing the amount of information in their business poses a challenge. Coupled with almost a quarter citing inaccurate decision-making and lost documents as a result of the information overload, the study indicates a disconnect between the problems organisations want to overcome and the path to achieving success.

A promising sign is that organisations are now recognising that they need to do more to better manage their information as part of their digital transformation journeys, with 80% turning to external experts to help them do so. This creates clear opportunities for resellers who provide information capture solutions that will enable organisations to ingest data and use it to make intelligent decisions that will allow them to remain competitive, especially as 61% believe the paperless office is an impossible dream.

Spanning 1,000 IT and business decision makers across France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK, the research also suggests that of those initiating digital transformation projects, the majority have a clear goal in mind. Over half (51%) said their goal for driving technology innovation was to accelerate business growth or remain competitive in a disruptive environment. However, many are facing internal and external barriers to delivering successful projects, including security risks (34%) and regulatory compliance (24%).

“Viewing the organisation as a single interconnected system of knowledge flows that can complement each other, opens up opportunities for a business to gain maximum value from the information it has access to and increase organisational intelligence,” said John Mancini, past President of AIIM. “It’s reassuring to see that, despite the challenges businesses face, many are actively navigating their digital transformation journey to unlock their full potential.”

“Digital transformation is no longer a ‘nice to have’ for organisations, it’s a business imperative as more accelerate their technology investments to be able to thrive in today’s highly-dynamic workplace,” said Mike Nelson, Senior Vice President, PFU (EMEA) Limited. “However, without the capacity to gain valuable insight from the information they hold, organisations will not unlock the full capabilities that digital transformation can enable. Through our Organisational Intelligence report, we hope to highlight where the pain points still exist and support organisations in building a successful path to transformation projects that drive growth.”

The research also found that 

·         27% say that information is not currently easily available within their organisation, with 26% citing that their current setup makes it difficult to share information with others

·         54% see scanning as an important digital transformation enabler

·         56% of records are stored both on paper and digitally

·         The end goal for over half of organisations is company growth or remaining competitive

·         44% said improving staff efficiency and productivity is a trigger to launching digital transformation programmes

·         34% cite security risks as a barrier to digital transformation, while 24% said the issue lay with regulatory compliance issues