How businesses can embrace digital transformation

More than a third of businesses in the UK are actively pursuing digital transformation, integrating technology into new areas of their business to change the way they work. 

Among bigger businesses, that figure is even higher, with 55 per cent of major corporations pursuing transformation, according to a BT survey of 1,217 business leaders.

Businesses in all sectors have to keep pace with changing technology, says Oliver Lester, operations manager at building firm Willmott Dixon. The company behind the refurbishment of Alexandra Palace in London partnered with BT to add fast 5G and Wi-Fi connections to its sites, allowing workers to communicate even when high above the ground (or deep under it). 

The change cut the building firm’s travel bills by 45 per cent and took hundreds of cars off the road. 

Lester says: “Construction is, at its heart, a logistical puzzle. We need all the correct pieces to be in place at the correct time to avoid costly delays and wasted materials. Now our sites are connected, we can be more confident that we are all working from the same plan and can make adjustments more easily when the need arises.”

The company also harnessed emerging tech, using Microsoft’s HoloLens headsets to show customers and stakeholders what buildings would look like. Gareth Davies, Willmott Dixon’s head of technology services, says: “Showing them a building in situ on HoloLens really brings the blueprints to life, so that everyone can understand what we’re working towards.”

Find out more from BT’s Future in 2021 survey at business.bt.com/insights/the-future-in-2021

The most common transformational technologies adopted by UK businesses, according to BT's survey, are voiceover IP (VoIP) telephony, “as a service” tech solutions, and AI and machine learning. 

But businesses need to be careful not simply to buy technology for technology’s sake, says Caroline Carruthers, chief executive of Carruthers and Jackson and former chief data officer for Network Rail.

Instead, they need to ensure they get the most out of their data when buying new technologies. “Organisations going through digital transformation often have their heads turned by the latest technology and wrongly believe that they need to adopt similar processes and technologies to their competitors,” she says. 

“Instead of getting the most out of the best AI/machine learning tech, for example, organisations are going straight for the shiny new products because their competitors are buying it. But they’re building a house of cards as it is not being fed good quality data. Data drives digital transformation so, before any successful digital upgrade can take place, organisations need to get their data in order.”

BT has long experience of helping companies choose the right tech investments. For big businesses, change can be difficult due to resistance among the workforce, with the biggest businesses reporting strong resistance to change (41 per cent) compared to just 25 per cent in the smallest businesses, according to BT’s survey.

Cultural change needs to happen alongside technological change, says David Shrier, professor of practice, AI and innovation at Imperial College Business School: “First and foremost, business leaders need to inculcate a creative, flexible, risk-taking mindset in their employees,” he says. “They need to incentivise trying new things and de-risk failure. Innovation science will tell you that 90 per cent of truly revolutionary projects will fail, but those 10 per cent that succeed end up being transformational. Creating an organisational culture that can succeed in capitalising on this kind of thinking requires re-orienting the entire organisation with new approaches and new skill sets.”

The future in 2021

BT is dedicated to digital transformation and wants its customers to be ahead of the game when it comes to tech. As part of this, BT runs an annual survey called The Future in 2021, asking more than 1,200 business leaders about emerging technology. BT has partnered with Telegraph Media Group to tell its story of how it can help you get the edge you need, whether it is future-proofing your business, bridging the digital skills gap or battling cyber threats.

To find out more, visit business.bt.com/insights/the-future-in-2021