Research was carried out by Data-Makers in partnership with CDN and interviewed 104 C-Levels from companies of different sectors and sizes
The lack of organizational culture is one of the main obstacles to the adoption of digital transformation in companies. At least that is what the latest study carried out by Data-Makers, in partnership with CDN, concluded.
The analysis, which took into account the responses of 104 CEOs and C-Levels from different companies, showed that 77% of Brazilian companies do not have a culture of digital transformation.
Furthermore, the data also showed that another barrier is the lack of preparation of leaders for the topic, admitted by 62% of the executives interviewed.
Despite this, digital transformation remains a substantial topic for the CEOs and C-Levels interviewed and 97% of them recognize the importance of the subject, with 62% partially or fully agreeing that the issue should be a priority in their companies.
For those interviewed, the motivations for adopting the initiative are operational efficiency (84%), data-driven decision-making (69%), financial results (62%) and updates on consumer behavior (60%).
Knowledge and attention
Compared to last year’s study, there was an increase in knowledge about digital transformation and the number of executives who declared they were fully aware of the topic increased by 10 percentage points, totaling 36% of the total.
The analysis of how executives perceive the attention dedicated to the topic also changed and, this time, more executives think the topic is overrated (16% vs 10%), while fewer CEOs and C-Levels believe it deserves more attention (39% vs 41%).
When it comes to companies’ performance in digital transformation, 21% of leaders see their companies as being at an advanced level, an increase of 4 percentage points compared to last year’s study. Meanwhile, 54% placed their organizations at a medium stage, while only 25% were in a beginner scenario.
“We see more companies at the advanced level, where there is a defined systemic digitalization roadmap and a business model and culture adapted to digital transformation; and fewer companies at the early stage, where the need for digitalization is recognized and the first steps are evaluated,” explained Fabrício Fudissaku, CEO of Data-Makers.
In comparison with the market, the data showed that executives are more confident about their companies’ performance. Although 52% say that their companies are at the market’s evolutionary average in this area, 30% already believe that their performance is superior to the current practice, an increase of 7 percentage points compared to the 2023 study.
Next steps
The survey found that 54% of executives expect investments in digital transformation to remain stable over the next 12 months. In contrast, the number of leaders who expect these efforts to decrease fell by half, from 4% to 2%. Another 45% of C-Level executives intend to increase these investments, a drop of 2 percentage points compared to the previous year.
Among the technologies most used in this digital transformation process, artificial intelligence leads the ranking with 69%, an increase of 28 percentage points. Next, the study points to big data (54%) and machine learning (39%) as the resources that receive the most attention.
When it comes to the areas responsible for digital transformation initiatives, there is a clear fragmentation of responsibility within organizations. The study points to the active participation of several sectors, and among the main ones are operations (62%), sales (46%), data (44%), technology (40%), marketing (32%), finance (31%), CX (28%), and HR (8%).
