Most Companies Continue to Struggle to Realize Full Business Value From Their Cloud Initiatives, Accenture Report Finds
November 16 2020 - 7:59AM
Business Wire
One in four organizations are hindered by
unexpected complications with cloud migrations
Despite years of focused effort, many enterprises are still
struggling to realize the full value of their cloud investments, a
new report from Accenture (NYSE:ACN) reveals.
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Nearly two-thirds of companies aren’t
achieving the expected benefits of the cloud (Graphic: Business
Wire)
In its latest report, “Sky High Hopes: Navigating the Barriers
to Maximizing Cloud Value,” Accenture surveyed 750 senior business
and IT professionals at large enterprises across 11 industries and
17 countries. It found that just 37% of companies say they are
achieving the full value expected on their cloud investments — a
mere 2% increase since Accenture’s original research report in
2018.
While value realization has never been more important, only 45%
of business and IT leaders say they are “very satisfied” with their
cloud outcomes, just a 1% gain over 2018. Moreover, just 29% are
completely confident that their organization’s cloud migration
initiatives will deliver the expected value at the expected
time.
Accenture’s report highlights that, when businesses have gone
more heavily into the cloud, outcomes are significantly better.
Forty-six percent of high adopters report fully achieving their
expected cloud benefits, compared to 36% of moderate adopters and
28% of low adopters.
Businesses recognize that they need cloud technologies for speed
and agility to mitigate the major challenges they are facing and to
drive transformational change to create new opportunities and
value. According to the report, 80% of business executives now look
to cloud as a means of mitigating business uncertainty and lowering
risk. In addition, 87% view cloud as a critical component of their
strategy for achieving their corporate sustainability goals.
“Cloud-based transformation offers companies the most powerful
way to reinvent their businesses, unleash the expertise and
creativity of their people, enhance their sustainability efforts
and create new stakeholder value,” said Karthik Narain, global
lead, Accenture Cloud First. “But the reality is that not every
company is unlocking the full potential value of the cloud. In
fact, our newest report shows a surprisingly small two-year
improvement in returns on corporate cloud initiatives, suggesting
that a more thoughtful and holistic approach is needed. Competing
in the age of COVID-19 and beyond requires that companies implement
a cloud-first strategy, in which every element of their business
leverages the power of the cloud, right now.”
The research also examines what may be holding businesses back
when it comes to driving their cloud agendas and achieving their
goals. “Lack of skills” was most frequently included in CEOs’ top
three perceived barriers (54%). “Security and compliance risk” was
predominant among all respondents (46%), followed by “legacy
infrastructure & application sprawl” and “misalignment between
IT and the business” (both at 40%).
The findings also show that CEOs have markedly different
impressions of cloud results and concerns than fellow C-suite
leaders and high-ranking company officials: 54% of CEOs are
completely confident in their organizations’ ability to deliver
cloud initiatives with the expected value at the expected time,
versus 34% of CIOs and only 28% of CFOs.
“Our research findings point to the complexities involved in
successfully executing cloud migrations that produce the
anticipated business value. The good news is that by taking a
rigorous, outcomes-centric approach to devising a customized cloud
strategy, partnering with the right experts and addressing
challenges outside of the technology itself, such as upskilling
their people to be more productive, businesses can achieve the
results and return on investment they’re seeking,” Narain
added.
To extract the full business value of cloud technologies,
Accenture recommends that organizations adopt fundamentally new
ways of working, shifting to new operating models and developing
new roles and skills. Four key areas for companies to address
include:
- Business value focus: develop an optimal cloud strategy
anchored to comprehensive economic business cases to identify
revenue upside and cost efficiency opportunities while aligning
goals and putting company leaders on the same page.
- People and culture change management: implement new
upskilling and talent readiness programs, along with new operating
models, to help transform and enhance how people work so they can
better meet rapidly changing needs.
- Data and AI: unlock industry- and function-specific data
insights and intelligence trapped in legacy systems with the power
of cloud data models.
- Partnering for success: leverage the skills and
experience of strategic partners to expand and enhance the
organization’s existing capabilities. Cloud-managed services are
often an option for companies looking to access the right skills
while maintaining cost efficiency.
Accenture’s new research follows the formation of Accenture
Cloud First, which provides the full stack of cloud services to
help clients across every industry become "cloud-first" businesses
so they can accelerate their digital transformation, innovate
faster, and create differentiated, sustainable value. Powered by
70,000 cloud professionals, and a $3 billion investment over the
next three years, we bring together an unmatched depth and breadth
of cloud experience and skills, industry cloud solutions, ecosystem
partner capabilities and assets that help clients realize greater
value from cloud at speed and scale. Visit us at
www.accenture.com/cloud.
About Accenture
Accenture is a global professional services company with leading
capabilities in digital, cloud and security. Combining unmatched
experience and specialized skills across more than 40 industries,
we offer Strategy and Consulting, Interactive, Technology and
Operations services—all powered by the world’s largest network of
Advanced Technology and Intelligent Operations centers. Our 506,000
people deliver on the promise of technology and human ingenuity
every day, serving clients in more than 120 countries. We embrace
the power of change to create value and shared success for our
clients, people, shareholders, partners and communities. Visit us
at www.accenture.com.
Copyright © 2020 Accenture. All rights reserved. Accenture and
its logo are trademarks of Accenture.
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20201116005353/en/
Mylissa Tsai Accenture +1 917 452 9729
mylissa.tsai@accenture.com
Christina McDonald Accenture +1 415 537 7997
christina.mcdonald@accenture.com
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