KPMG Global Tech Report 2024

As featured on BusinessMirror: KPMG Global Tech Report 2024

The relentless speed of technology innovation is undeniable. When combined with a natural fear of missing out, ideas that may once have seemed like science fiction are rapidly converting into tangible reality. From generative AI to quantum computing, the potential benefits are huge, and so is the risk of making costly mistakes.

A key theme from this year’s KPMG Global Tech Report research is the perception among tech executives that they are struggling to keep up with the pace of change. In response to this sense of falling behind, organizations may be tempted to make a hurried response. However, this can lead to misguided investments that may prove both risky and expensive, potentially increasing the burden of technical debt which many well-established organizations are already struggling with.

To harness the full potential of the wave of new tech advancements, organizations must sustain a measured, strategic approach to investment.

Rapid change is driving fear of missing out (FOMO). Our research shows that the rapidly accelerated technology innovation over the past year has amplified a strong sense of FOMO among organizations.

The flood of AI-related news entering the mainstream has stirred a collective interest in AI that transcends seniority and technical expertise. This has only served to stoke the fires of ‘tech-envy’ and could encourage a ‘spend now, ask questions later’ attitude.

Digital transformation can bring many exciting benefits, and ambition to progress is only healthy, but organizations must not let it distort their judgement. Progress paranoia could lead to misguided investments and disjointed implementation initiatives.

On balance, organizations are content with the outcomes of their digital transformation investments, mostly thanks to their ability to make sound decisions along the journey.

With the pace of change pressuring tech execs, organizations must ensure haste does not compromise the quality of their judgment calls.

Investing for the long term is still a good discipline to follow. With execs fearing that their organizations are struggling to keep up with the pace of change, planning for the long term can be difficult when balancing the needs of the latest technological advancements. To maximize progress, tech execs should channel digital transformation efforts towards what matters most strategically to their organizations.

Securing the most value from identified opportunities relies on robust data-driven processes, security and governance. As they troubleshoot the problems that threaten their resilience, organizations are placing cybersecurity and data proficiency at the top of their priority lists.

Data both drives and sustains digital transformation. Data maturity, security, and governance enable the pace of innovation, and can help improve customer experiences. Insufficiently secure solutions create the risk of data breaches, inefficiencies, or missed opportunities, which can erode business value and customer trust. Data security and governance form a robust transformation delivery infrastructure that underpins an organization’s strategic ability to differentiate, maintain cost effectiveness and manage risk in the digital era.

Almost three-quarters of organizations are already achieving business value from their AI investments, but only one in three has been able to achieve this at scale. Enthusiasm is being fueled by democratized experimentation approaches, but as use cases scale up many predict a tipping point marking a drive towards greater centralization.

The AI ‘black-box’ is causing workforce anxiety. Managing employee anxiety around change will be critical to AI adoption at speed. Those who navigate the evolving tech landscape with a focus on employee empowerment, and bringing everyone on board, will flourish amid rapid change. Organizations believe their workforce has an appetite for cutting-edge tech. But there is also fear that some individuals feel left behind by the rapidly evolving tech landscape.

While the pace of digital transformation can be daunting, our research shows that many organizations are taking considerable strides forward in their implementation journeys, especially with AI, XaaS and cybersecurity.

The additional profitability that transformation has yielded so far is certainly encouraging and organizations are seeking value beyond profits. Execs are calibrating their digital transformation formulas to supercharge progress across a range of strategic objectives, including ESG responsibilities and customer experience elevation.

To help guard against stakeholder skepticism associated with the safety and viability of new digital transformation opportunities, organizations should also bring structure, discipline and an enterprise mindset to the adoption of new technology, to mitigate risks and optimize value realization.

This excerpt was taken from the KPMG Thought Leadership publication: https://kpmg.com/xx/en/our-insights/transformation/kpmg-global-tech-report-2024.html.