- US digital transformation maturity is below the global average
- Workers don’t have the right tools or training
- Basic security measures are missing
Despite world-class investments in AI and other tech, US businesses are lagging when it comes to digital transformation, new research has claimed.
A report from Zoho found as many as two in five (39%) US organizations are still only in the early stages of transformation, with the whole country ranking 1.2 percentage points beneath the global average in terms of transformation maturity.
The slow progress is being blamed on security weaknesses and delayed tool adoption, with only 15% of workers feeling that workplace tools meet their expectations – with separate WalkMe research finding only 28% of employees feel adequately trained.
US digital transformation is lagging
Zoho noted progressing from Level 2 (standardization) to Level 3 (structured operations) could take between three and five years, coming at the cost of $250-500 per employee annually. Reaching Level 4 (optimized digital operations) requires around twice the resources – 10 or more years and $500-1,000 per employee each year.
The majority of companies (85%) are still said to be relying on manual task delegation over automation, with the likes of hospitality, logistics and retail struggling more than their tech-adept counterparts in IT and finance industries. SMBs also lag behind larger firms, likely due to more limited resources – and WalkMe’s research backs this up, uncovering that only one in four use AI to improve efficiency.
Some of the problems highlighted include poor implementation of multi-factor authentication (MFA) (used by just half of the companies analysed), the provision of secure access policies like VPN (available to just one in four) and limited physical security controls (adopted by fewer than one in three).
To put a price on the losses, WalkMe estimates $104 million in losses throughout 2024 due to underutilized technology, as well as 36 days wasted each year by inefficient workers. On the flip side, proper digital adoption could nearly triple returns on transformation investments.
“US businesses have strong foundations in collaboration and digital tools, but security and process inefficiencies are major barriers to transformation,” noted Zoho Chief Evangelist Raju Vegesna.
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