New report paints a mixed picture for the UK on digital transformation

New report paints a mixed picture for the UK on digital transformation
Analysis
16 January 2017
As a firm’s digital capability increasingly becomes an indicator of their ability to succeed in the connected world, a timely new report by the Economist Intelligence Unit commissioned by Telstra takes a closer look at what is driving digital transformation
COMMENT
While there’s no denying there are some unknowns ahead for the shape of the UK economy in the near future, the findings of this report show the fundamentals of remaining globally competitive when it comes to digital transformation are through creating an environment that is conducive to continued investment in infrastructure
Nick Ismail
The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) conducted quantitative and qualitative research across a number of countries and found that access to high quality network infrastructure, access to talent with the requisite digital skills and a vibrant technology ecosystem are increasingly a core competitive advantage for countries and companies alike.
The ‘Connecting Capabilities’ report was undertaken by the EIU and includes the first Asian Digital Transformation Index, which ranks 11 countries in the region against three global comparators – the UK, US and Australia.
The research is based on 20 indicators covering digital infrastructure, human capital and industry connectedness – the building blocks of success in the modern economy.
>See also:  Preparing your business for digital transformation
The report paints a mixed picture for the UK – it lags behind the US, Australia and Singapore overall. This is despite the fact the UK leads the way when it comes to industry connectivity measures, but this just shows there’s plenty of room for growth when it comes to human capital and digital infrastructure.
Digital infrastructure is a crucial foundation
One area the UK underperforms compared to other markets such as the US, Singapore, South Korea and Hong Kong is in the measures of the quality of digital infrastructure, including 4G coverage of the population and investment in telecommunications as a percentage of GDP where the UK came last.
With more than 90% of executives interviewed suggesting that a country’s digital infrastructure is important to their business success, this should be a challenging result for the UK given the potential for underperformance in this area to become a drag on economic performance.
Indeed this might be a motivation behind the Government’s recent announcement of a £1 billion plus investment to boost broadband speeds and trial superfast 5G mobile networks in the UK.
The report reinforces the notion that overall western countries have an edge in existing digital infrastructure: four in 10 executives (38%) in Australia, the UK and the US say their country has been “very successful” in this regard compared with only about three in 10 (27%) in Asian economies.