A new survey by KPMG LLP, the tax, audit and advisory firm, finds that only one in four organizations has a fully integrated digital strategy and just over one-fifth describe themselves as "high-performing" or believe they are "highly advanced" at using digital initiatives to deliver substantial business value across their enterprises. This could soon change, however, as 44 percent say they anticipate their companies will be highly advanced digital enterprises in the next three years.

Compared to only 8 percent now, roughly 20 percent of respondents said they see half or more of their revenue coming from digital channels within three years. Meanwhile, 52 percent of high performers see decreasing costs from digital strategies. Companies defining themselves as high-performing show a sharp difference from their lower-performing peers, those companies that see themselves as still in the early or "exploratory" stages of digital/mobile maturity, according to the survey.

Survey findings, as well as in-depth interviews with executives of digitally high-performing organizations, reveal that today's business landscape is sharply divided between digital "haves" and "have-nots." The "haves" are forging ahead with enterprise-wide digital initiatives and successfully integrating digital into their businesses, while the "have-nots" continue to struggle with fragmented or siloed efforts that often lack the clarity needed for an effective enterprise vision and positive returns on investment (ROI), according to the survey.

Digital Divide
High-performing organizations demonstrate significantly stronger levels of digital maturity in several areas, including:

• Creating digital product lines (89%)

• Creating new revenue models (82%)

• Helping employees work better (71%)

Meanwhile, 82% of these firms are engaging with customers via social media and 81% are developing analytics from those engagements to provide insights that guide business decisions.

Other Findings:

• Just 20% of firms in the "early/exploratory" stage are creating digital-based product lines

• 51% are creating new revenue models

• Only 10% are developing or supporting digital channels

Less than half of these firms (44%) are developing analytic insights from social media and only 29% are using digital and mobile means to help employees work better. 

"As organizations continue to experience business disruption and the global economy increasingly becomes more intensely competitive, organizations that can successfully execute digital and mobile initiatives create a competitive advantage," said Rick Wright, KPMG U.S. Digital & Mobile Solutions leader. "Executives recognize their organizations cannot move forward without cohesive digital and mobile strategies, and those with more advanced deployments are delivering results in terms of revenues and faster time to market."

"Most organizations have only begun to explore the possibilities digital has to offer or have yet to adopt coherent strategies to leverage these concepts and technologies," Wright added. "We're at a critical inflection point for moving digital and mobile technologies in the enterprise, and the next few years will be transformative as enterprises embrace smarter and more efficient new ways of working."