CenturyLink: Midsize Businesses Increasingly Pursuing Digital Transformation

A higher-than-expected 53 percent of IT decision makers at businesses ranging from 11-500 employees are engaged in or planning their digital transformations.

That’s according to a new survey conducted by Spiceworks and sponsored by CenturyLink. Some 250 midsize business IT professionals participated in the survey.

Garrett Gee, CenturyLink’s vice president of indirect, strategic partnerships and alliances, tells Channel Partners that there are increasing connectivity demands in the ever-evolving networked world, driving the increased need for digital transformation.

CenturyLink’s Garrett Gee

“SMBs are further along in their digital-transformation journeys than expected, but still have limitations due to the size of technology investment and expertise needed, as well as the massive digital re-engineering required,” he said. “Because of this, these businesses are seeking partners that can provide the right mix of networking and IT solutions to ensure smooth and successful digital transformation.”

Top drivers for digital transformation include improving efficiency and productivity (60 percent), reducing costs and modernizing systems (39 percent), increasing accuracy and reducing human errors (37 percent), and increasing revenues and enhancing the customer experience (30 percent). Respondents also were positive about their digital-transformation efforts, with more than 75 percent noting they were “enthusiastic” and “excited.”

Current constraints to digital transformation include: budget (58 percent); limited time and staff (57 percent); competing IT priorities (35 percent); resistance from end users and internal business-decision makers (34 percent); and limited skill and expertise (31 percent).

Top digital-transformation projects include backup and disaster recovery, retiring and upgrading legacy systems, and workflow automation.

Some 60 percent of IT professionals said they worked with their marketing, sales and finance departments in their digital-transformation initiatives to ensure that as new technologies are deployed, those groups have a say in how business-process changes are designed and implemented.

“Midsize businesses are increasingly adopting a digital business model, but still face challenges,” said Vernon Irvin, CenturyLink’s president of government, education, and medium and small business. “With limited resources and budgets, midsize businesses are looking for networking solutions providers to deliver a reliable infrastructure capable of supporting the evolving technology landscape, as well as solutions that can help save time and money.”