The need for digital transformation is accepted, almost universally, among the respondents. 86% say they have assessed the business risk of not taking action and 88% have taken steps to address this. Yet, despite 93% of L&D professionals saying a digital transformation strategy is in place, the report suggests critical top down buy-in is missing.
Limited C-suite buy-in holding back digital transformation
For 43% of businesses, the Chief Information Officer (CIO) is heading up digital change with just under a quarter (24%) assigning responsibility to a Chief Digital Officer (CDO). For a fifth (22%) of businesses the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) is leading the drive towards digital transformation.
Despite the majority of businesses having a C-suite exec in charge of digital transformation, their commitment is in question. Over half (55%) of L&D professionals believe C-suite execs only pay lip service to transformation.
This lack of commitment from the top has repercussions further down the organisation, with a fifth (21%) of L&D respondents feeling powerless to influence change.
Investment in digital training not equal across the business – marketing takes lion’s share
Businesses claim that upskilling workforces is a priority, with 81% of respondents having a digital learning programme in place. However, investment in digital skills isn’t being shared equally across the business. Just under three in ten businesses (28%) provide digital training across their entire business. For over 40% of businesses, the lion’s share is allocated to the sales and marketing department.
Just one fifth (19%) of overall training budgets is spent on digital.
Current digital training lacks engagement, benchmarking and impact assessment
Delivering effective learning outcomes that are measurable is a concern for L&D professionals. For over a fifth (22%) of respondents the digital training undertaken to date hasn’t delivered tangible and measurable ROI. A quarter of L&D managers say their organisation doesn't benchmark their skill levels and almost a fifth (18%) report low levels of employee engagement in their training programmes. Just a quarter (26%) of organisations incorporate digital literacy into staff performance reviews.
Lisa Barrett, managing director at AVADO comments; "We’ve learned that for businesses to really grasp the digital opportunity, it takes serious commitment from leadership and the right levels of investment in the right kinds of training programmes – ones that deliver business impact. Put simply, companies need to take their whole organisation on a learning journey. And for the ones that get this right, the results can be transformational."