Promoted content: How to make digital innovation happen fast

A recent study from Accenture of executives from leading global industrial companies highlighted the struggle they are facing in deriving value from digital technologies, despite their acknowledgement of its importance to their business. In fact only 13 per cent of companies have been able to achieve both operational efficiency and new business growth on the back of their digital investments.

The barriers to achieving real business impact from digital technology include limited availability of digital talent (or only in isolated parts of the business), working on assumptions not tests and lack of access to data. Despite this, we see companies plough ahead, often fruitlessly, with small pilots, that realise little value leading to ‘proof of concept fatigue’. Industrial companies can be especially prone to this because some remain focused on whether or not a technology works rather than proving out the value in pursuing it. So how can they break through these barriers?