Cognizant Reports: The End of the Beginning

2019

How many legacy firms are still in existence today? Many that were household names, Kodak, Blockbuster, BlackBerry, and Sears, for instance, haven’t survived the digital transformation paradigm shift that is defining 21st-century corporate survival. And newer firms like Google, Apple, and Netflix are raising the bar and setting new expectations.

For Cognizant’s The End of the Beginning, ESI ThoughtLab completed a comprehensive survey of nearly 2,500 of today’s business and technology leaders from an array of industries worldwide that together represent $21.6 trillion in revenue. To dive deeper, we conducted interviews with top executives who have guided organizations through disruptive, adaptive changes to ensure 21st-century business success.

We developed benchmarking indices that allow business executives to gauge their own firm’s digital maturity. To separate the leaders from those whose digital journey is lagging we analyzed:

  • Ranking on a digital transformation framework: We scored companies across 13 key aspects of business and technology change.
  • Ability to influence revenue through digital methods: Drawing on self-reported data, we analyzed the level of revenue influenced directly or indirectly by digital channels.
  • Benefits generated from digital: This included operational benefits, such as speed to market and improving cost efficiencies, and more strategic ones, such as greater shareholder value and market share.

From this rigorous analysis, we ranked each surveyed firms’ position on the digital maturity curve, see the figure below. Where does your firm fit on the digital maturity curve? Learn more from Cognizant’s report on digital business transformation.