Global market trends are converging to accelerate the speed at which commercial and government organizations need to move from experimenting with discrete customer-facing digital projects to implementing enterprise-wide digital transformation. This is the overall finding of the CGI Global 1000, through in-person conversations with business and technology leaders in ten industries and twenty countries.
CGI President and Chief Executive Officer Michael E. Roach: “In this year’s CGI Global 1000, we saw tremendous alignment around organizations’ need to implement more expansive digital transformation by modernizing and connecting their legacy systems to a digital business and operating model. We have not seen such clarity of market dynamics since Y2K, which was a system-centric, point-in-time event that did not create competitive business value. Today, there is a need to create sustainable business model change that will help organizations better run, change and grow over the next decade.”
In the CGI Global 1000, organizations identified five key trends that are intensifying their need to transform:
1. Over 70% of leaders cite the rising influence of consumers’ digital behaviors. Customers expect personalized and seamless digital experiences across channels, with banking, retail and consumer services, and communications leaders citing a digital-only trend.
2. Security is starting to become a differentiator for 62% of organizations. Organizations’ cybersecurity programs are maturing from reactive and compliance-based to proactive and focused on integrating security into part of the value proposition.
3. Half of organizations across industries feel the burden of relentless regulatory demands. This perennial trend continues to accelerate, with leaders focused on material business impacts of privacy and data protection laws.
4. One-third of executives note structural change of their business models is needed. For the first time, leaders said they must transform the way their organizations are structured to serve their stakeholders and spur growth.
5. Nearly 30% of organizations are experiencing the emergence of IT as a driver of business change. Technology’s role is shifting from being an enabler to a driver for achieving new business and operating models. Over 70% of leaders said they plan to increase or maintain their IT budgets to accelerate digital transformation.
As organizations address these global dynamics and start to implement more enterprise-wide digital efforts, over 70% of leaders noted that implementing change internally is their top challenge.
“This year represents a digital inflection point for many organizations,” said Doug McCuaig, Executive Vice-President, Global Client Transformation Services, and the executive responsible for the CGI Global 1000 outlook. “The timeframe organizations thought they had to address digital transformation has compressed and they must accelerate their digital agenda. Leaders recognize they must address their most complex challenges, such as changing the cost structure for running legacy platforms to invest in digital transformation. These are CEO-level decisions that result in business executives leading more and more technology initiatives and at a faster pace than traditional IT modernization.”
The CGI Global 1000 outlook is conducted annually as a series of forward-looking conversations between CGI consultants and senior business and technology executives in commercial and government organizations. Through these discussions, executives share their perspectives on the trends impacting their organizations and how they plan to address the challenges and opportunities through their business and IT priorities and plans. In 2016, CGI professionals interviewed more than 1000 executives in 10 industries and 20 countries, including in-depth discussions about digital transformation and cybersecurity.
