New research: how enterprises invest in digital transformation & product development

About Modus Create’s digital transformation report

Enterprises are ramping up their investment in improving the customer experience through new digital products. But those efforts are hindered by challenges like having a solid strategy in place, navigating data security, and finding and retaining the right talent.

Those were key takeaways from Modus Create’s industry research report, “Investing in Digital Transformation & Product Development,” which reveals how decision-makers are prioritizing and tackling digital initiatives in 2024. In conjunction with research firm Ascend2, we surveyed 377 product-development and executive decision-makers from enterprises across the U.S. and U.K. about their top objectives and challenges and the many aspects of digital transformation — people, products, platforms, and processes.

The report helps us understand what decision-makers are up against as they strive to be more competitive. While there are many eye-opening learnings in the full report, these three themes stood out to us:

1. Cybersecurity is top of mind

It’s no surprise that preventing security breaches is a top challenge for organizations surveyed (40%). (See the graph below for all of the top challenges.) What’s interesting is how they plan to take action: a majority (59%) say they will be investing to bolster cybersecurity posture in the coming year (up significantly from 32% in our 2022 digital transformation research).

To delve deeper into the security topic, check out the 10 cybersecurity threats that businesses should be aware of. Our Director of Security William Reyor provides an overview of the security threats and mitigation every business leader should be aware of.

2. Digital product development is not slowing down

44% of organizations will be investing in the launch of new customer-facing applications or features in the coming year (up from only 20% the previous year!). But we also found that lacking a digital strategy can be a blocker to scaling those products. 79% of surveyed decision-makers reported that following through on strategic elements of developing and launching new products is a barrier to success.

Organizations commonly struggle with the gap between product strategy and delivery. In a recent blog post, our CEO Patrick Sheridan shares the importance of digital strategy to the success of digital transformation and product development efforts, especially when it comes to new technology like AI.

3. Finding capable digital talent is no joke for IT organizations today

A whopping 90% of respondents agreed that finding and hiring the right talent is a major pain point. This supply-demand crisis of finding capable digital talent underscores the importance of improving developer experience and retaining the talent you have. As Patrick says, “If you really want to measure the success of your digital transformation, measure the satisfaction of your knowledge workers.”

It’s all connected: building a solid digital strategy fosters a good developer experience, which in turn helps create better customer products.People are ultimately the backbone of successful digital transformation. As our Chief Strategy Officer Sarah McCasland says:“When we talk about digital transformation, it often leads to a discussion about technology. That’s understandable, as technology is a powerful and essential part of any digital transformation initiative. But the fanciest tools and technology in the world achieve nothing without people, meaningful interactions, and processes.”