CXO Spectrum

Digital Transformation

IDC Forecasts ICT Spending to Reach $4.3 Trillion in 2020

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International Data Corporation predicts worldwide spending on information and communications technology will reach $4.3 trillion in 2020. This increase of 3.6% over 2019 includes commercial and public sector spending on information technology (hardware, software and IT services), telecommunications services, and business services.

Telecom services will represent more than one third of all ICT spending in 2020, the largest category at more than $859 billion, followed by fixed telecom services.

IDC anticipates consumer ICT spending will grow at a slower rate of 0.7% CAGR. Mobile telecom services and devices purchases will be the primary driver of consumer spending.

The research agency identifies 4 industries – banking, discrete manufacturing, professional services, and telecommunications – as delivering 40% of all commercial ICT spending in 2020.

Accenture Finds Timid Approach to Technology Costing Enterprises Billions

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A new survey showcases the delta between vision and implementation in digital transformation. Accenture’s recent report, “Your Legend or Your Legacy” found that C-level execs embracing bold technology initiatives are reaping the rewards. Yet the number who do so is surprisingly small – Accenture finds only 10% are investing optimally in technology and adoption decisions to realize full value of those investments. Further, Accenture finds that, “By adopting new technologies more aggressively and breaking down barriers to effectively scale innovation across their organizations, these leading companies are generating more than twice the rate of revenue growth than those on the lower end of the spectrum.”

The study was conducted with 8,300 organizations across 20 industries and 20 countries.

Accenture offers five key factors— or “PATHS” — that it has identified as distinguishing the top 10% of companies from the rest:

  • Progress: The extent to which companies apply new technology to evolve business processes across the enterprise. One example is the use of cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) to increase the effectiveness of multiple business processes rather than working in silos.
  • Adaptation: Ensuring that IT systems can adapt and respond to changing market conditions with actions such as decoupling from legacy systems and using cloud services as a catalyst for innovation.
  • Timing: Creating an appropriate sequence and roadmaps for deploying new technology. This begins with identifying foundational technologies and prioritizing adoption based on their enterprise-wide impact.
  • Human+machine workforce: Using technologies to augment employees and make work more engaging while simultaneously realizing efficiency gains. This could entail delivering technology-augmented training that is personalized and experiential for working with technologies of the future.
  • Strategy: Actively aligning business strategy and IT strategy and weaving technology investments together to better seize opportunities.

Databook Lands $5M in Seed Funding

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Databook, which offers an enterprise customer intelligence platform, announced it has landed $5M in seed funding, led by Threshold Ventures. The company has a goal of changing the enterprise selling game by making every rep as good as the best rep through its AI-powered platform. Once deployed, the platform combines predictive intent data, real-time insights, and time-saving productivity tools to improve selling performance across the enterprise – with a goal of enabling every sales rep to deliver the right pitch for the right audience at the right time.

The company, backed by some powerful investors and advisors, claims its platform can: 

  • Increases sales productivity at scale. Better yield per rep means higher conversions; more reps hit their quota every quarter, which exponentially increases revenue. 
  • Improves organizational velocity at scale. More productive reps mean better customer engagement, which typically results in more pipeline and wins per quarter; all of this equals better performance at lower cost across the organization. 
  • More efficient growth at scale. Better productivity means top-line and bottom-line growth.