Recent results from the International Data Corporation (IDC) Future Enterprise Resiliency and Spending (FERS) survey shed light on several key areas of digital transformation. In this global survey, respondents were asked to identify their digital resiliency investment plans, as well as the challenges and benefits of these initiatives.

Recent data from the IDC Future Enterprise Resiliency and Spending (FERS) survey shed light on several key areas in the digital transformation plans of global enterprises.

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Future of Customers and Consumers: Customer Experience
According to the FERS survey data, improving the customer experience (CX) directly impacts the organization’s bottom line. More than a third of respondents globally (34%), reported improved profit margins as one of the top five benefits arising from their CX initiatives. Organizations attributed these higher profit margins to increased revenue (27%), cost reductions in personnel (25%), marketing (22%), and customer acquisition (18%).

The benefits also extended to customers. Companies reporting improved customer experience pointed to their efforts to reduce customer pain points (22%) and friction in customer engagement (19). As customers navigate a technology-driven world, they seek out hyper-personalized contextual experiences that enable them to engage when and where they want while satisfying their need with the least effort.

For future enterprises to anticipate customer intentions and respond with empathy – at scale – will require a thorough understanding of customer data orchestrated by the right technology solutions. The FERS survey provides overwhelming evidence that technology and knowledge of customer data are critical in how organizations deliver customer experience.

• 78% of enterprises reported that data from and about the customer is critical for CX delivery – 21% indicated that customer data plays an extremely significant role.
• 79% of respondents reported that technology is critical in how they deliver CX.

Future of Intelligence: Enterprise Intelligence
Modern infrastructure is foundational to building enterprise intelligence, which in turn builds greater digital resiliency. Organizations that have increased – and accelerated – investment in technologies that drive the synthesis of information will be more digitally resilient in a post-pandemic world. Learning and knowledge sharing are also necessary for building enterprise intelligence and digital resiliency. According to FERS survey data:

• Business investments in enterprise intelligence continued or accelerated in 76% of survey respondents in response to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Top factors that helped organizations be resilient in the face of the pandemic were the ability to adapt quickly (33.7%), learn continuously (32.6%), and have cloud infrastructure to support enterprise intelligence (37.5%).
• Enterprise intelligence skills are highest rated among the skills that enterprises are looking to hire in the next six months.

Future of Trust: Digital Sovereignty
Regulations that enforce territorial data boundaries present obstacles and potentially limit the flexibility of global digital platforms and public cloud services. As the pace and scope of these regulations continue to expand, organizations are increasingly looking to digital sovereignty as a way to gain greater self-determination in their efforts to shape their digital transformation efforts. IDC defines digital sovereignty as the capacity for digital self-determination by states, companies, or individuals. It focuses on the control over data, infrastructure, and software that are relied upon to operate in the digital world.

FERS survey results highlight several key findings:

• 67% respondents agree or strongly agree that digital sovereignty improves their ability to shape digital transformation efforts in a self-determined way.
• 75% of respondents believe that the top regulation or guideline for digital sovereignty is to ensure providers adhere to geographic specific measures to not monetize, sell and/or use their customers’ data without intentional and expressed consent and compensation.
• 48% of respondents indicated that their top challenge is to protect and maintain visibility of data in public cloud providers’ facilities in accordance with regulatory requirements.
• 31% U.S. respondents believe that government involvement will influence investments in digital sovereignty initiatives.

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