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Digital citizens want faster services, study finds

EMC has announced the results of ‘The Information Generation: Transforming The Future’ report, that explores the impact of a growing global community of digital citizens.

More than 60 per cent of enterprises surveyed in the Middle East believe that digital citizens want faster services, according to a recent study.

EMC has announced the results of ‘The Information Generation: Transforming The Future’ report, that explores the impact of a growing global community of digital citizens.

No matter whether people are working, keeping fit, learning, playing, purchasing online or watching TV, they are making new digital demands of the businesses. These individuals are always connected and engaged online, and have the world’s information at their fingertips.

They also view the world very differently. Based on input from 3,600 Director-to-C-Suite business leaders across 18 countries including the UAE and Saudi Arabia, the study reveals new expectations of these individuals and identifies the fundamental business attributes critical for organisations to successfully compete and thrive in this new landscape.

Almost all respondents in the UAE and Saudi Arabia reported that recent technological advances had impacted the way that their organisation did business.

More than 20 per cent agreed that the rapid adoption of mobile, social, cloud and big data technologies is changing customer behaviour and creating a new digital world, whereby organisations must adapt in order to stay competitive.

Sixty-three per cent believe that customers want access to services faster, 56 per cent believe that customers want 24/7 access and connectivity, 51 per cent believe that customers want a personalised experience, 43 per cent believe that customers want access on an increasing number of multi-channel platforms.

“The combined forces of cloud, social, mobile and big data have led to the emergence of what we like to call the ‘Information Generation’. Whether they’re working, keeping fit, learning, playing, purchasing online or watching TV, these digital citizens are creating new demands for the businesses they deal with,” said Mohammed Amin, senior vice president for Turkey, Eastern Europe, Africa and Middle East at EMC Corporation.

“The results of the Information Generation Study are clear evidence of the significant impact that combined forces of cloud, social, mobile and big data have created for businesses everywhere. Even in the region, the emergence of ‘digital citizens’ necessitates the need for enterprises to revisit their strategies and redefine themselves to meet this massive shift in expectations, adapt and succeed in the future,” Amin explained.

The study highlights that the demand for better use of data and insight is coming from both internal and external forces. Internally, the demand is most likely to come from the IT department (47 per cent), finance (37 per cent), the IT department (47 per cent), marketing (32 per cent) and the C-suite/board level (28 per cent), and externally from competitors (40 per cent) and customers (36 per cent).

Due to the new information generation-driven demands, businesses agree that transformation is critical. Business leaders have identified five “make-or-break” business attributes, all of which have information at their core.

While 63 per cent of respondents agree that having access to relevant information and insights would improve decision making, challenges remain: 33 per cent admit they are drowning in information overload; 31 per cent of respondents state that the abundance of information helps them learn what they need to do, but leaves them unable to turn the ‘learning’ into actionable results; and 22 per cent said that the abundance in information has improved their ability to do their job.

The study also highlighted key factors hindering the effective use of data: 40 per cent believe that the current organisation culture inhibits the ability to effectively use data and information; 36 per cent stated security concerns as being a primary cause; 34 per cent attributed resources and workload constraints as key factor; and 31 per cent pointed to the lack of in house expertise as hindering the effective use of data.

— abdulbasit@khaleejtimes.com