The IT Nerd

Despite years of focused effort, many Canadian enterprises are still struggling to realize the full value of their cloud investments, a new report from Accenture reveals.
 
In its latest report, “Sky High Hopes: Navigating the Barriers to Maximizing Cloud Value,” Accenture surveyed 750 senior business and IT professionals at large enterprises across 11 industries and 17 countries, including Canada. It found that just 34% of Canadian companies say they are achieving the full value expected on their cloud investments, compared to 37% of companies globally.
 
While value realization has never been more important, 51% of Canadian business and IT leaders say they are “very satisfied” with their cloud outcomes, compared to 45% globally. Moreover, just 18% of Canadian businesses are completely confident that their organization’s cloud migration initiatives will deliver the expected value at the expected time.
 
Accenture’s report highlights that, when businesses have gone more heavily into the cloud, outcomes are significantly better. Looking globally, 46% of high adopters report fully achieving their expected cloud benefits, compared to 36% of moderate adopters and 28% of low adopters.
 
Businesses in Canada recognize that they need cloud technologies for speed and agility to mitigate the major challenges they are facing and to drive transformational change to create new opportunities and value. According to the report, 95% of Canadian business executives now look to cloud as a means of mitigating business uncertainty and lowering risk. In addition, 90% view cloud as a critical component of their strategy for achieving their corporate sustainability goals.

The research also examines what may be holding Canadian businesses back when it comes to driving their cloud agendas and achieving their goals. “Security and compliance risk” was most frequently cited as perceived barrier (53%), followed by “complexity of business / operational change” and “legacy infrastructure & application sprawl” at 44% and 36% respectively.  Every barrier listed was included as a top barrier by one-third of respondents. 

The global findings also show that CEOs have markedly different impressions of cloud results and concerns than fellow C-suite leaders and high-ranking company officials: 54% of CEOs globally are completely confident in their organizations’ ability to deliver cloud initiatives with the expected value at the expected time, versus 34% of CIOs and only 28% of CFOs. 

To extract the full business value of cloud technologies, Accenture recommends that organizations adopt fundamentally new ways of working, shifting to new operating models and developing new roles and skills. Four key areas for companies to address include:
 

1. Business value focus: develop an optimal cloud strategy anchored to comprehensive economic business cases to identify revenue upside and cost efficiency opportunities while aligning goals and putting company leaders on the same page.
2. People and culture change management: implement new upskilling and talent readiness programs, along with new operating models, to help transform and enhance how people work so they can better meet rapidly changing needs.
3. Data and AI: unlock industry- and function-specific data insights and intelligence trapped in legacy systems with the power of cloud data models.
4. Partnering for success: leverage the skills and experience of strategic partners to expand and enhance the organization’s existing capabilities. Cloud-managed services are often an option for companies looking to access the right skills while maintaining cost efficiency.  

Accenture’s new research follows the formation of Accenture Cloud First, which provides the full stack of cloud services to help clients across every industry become “cloud-first” businesses so they can accelerate their digital transformation, innovate faster, and create differentiated, sustainable value. Powered by 70,000 cloud professionals, and a $3 billion investment over the next three years, we bring together an unmatched depth and breadth of cloud experience and skills, industry cloud solutions, ecosystem partner capabilities and assets that help clients realize greater value from cloud at speed and scale. For more info, visit www.accenture.com/cloud.

Although online shopping is on the rise due to the COVID-19 pandemic, two-thirds (68 per cent) of Canadians still plan to visit stores during the holiday shopping season, according to the 2020 Holiday Shopping Report from Accenture.

Of those shopping in stores, 71 per cent said stores offering safety products like hand sanitizer and masks for public use is a key factor for their comfort. Enabling social distancing by limiting the number of people allowed inside a store at one time is also important for 67 per cent of consumers.

Many Canadians plan to shop in stores and online. Indeed, 71 per cent of respondents to the ninth annual online survey of 1,500 Canadian consumers said they plan to shop online.

Despite Canadians heading to stores to prepare for the holidays, more than half (58 per cent) of those surveyed said they would be less inclined to venture out on Boxing Day because they feel unsafe in large crowds. In addition, one in four (25 per cent) Canadians said Boxing Day is no longer one of the biggest shopping days of the year.

This year, Canadians expect to spend just $516 versus $721 last year, as their budgets have reduced by about 30 per cent. The good news for retailers, however, is that couples with kids expect to spend $701, on average.

Loyalty at stake as retailers look to meet holiday shopping preferences

The e-commerce experience also matters to consumers. Top frustrations include high shipping costs (62 per cent) and delivery delays (52 per cent). Two in five (40 per cent) shoppers expect fast and free shipping, and nearly two-thirds (63 per cent) said an unsatisfactory delivery experience would discourage them from shopping with a retailer again.

Buying local and ethical shopping still on-trend

The survey also found that Canadians support local and ethical shopping. For instance, 57 per cent are looking to buy more locally sourced products; 54 per cent said they would be inspired to shop with a retailer who responded well to and supported their staff during the COVID-19 pandemic. Half (51 per cent) of Canadians surveyed also plan to make eco-friendly or ethical purchases. In addition, 71 per cent said they would welcome a donation to a charity on their behalf.

Less holiday travel means more time for self-care

Regardless of the types of gifts Canadians will give this year, celebrations will look different with 56 per cent planning to connect with family and friends over video chat instead of in person. Less travel means more time at home with more than half (57 per cent) planning to focus on self-care and mental wellbeing, trying new recipes (52 per cent) and enjoying hobbies (48 per cent).

Some other key findings from the survey include:

• Opting out of wrapping: Nearly half (45 per cent) of Canadians plan to forego gift wrapping this year to avoid wasting paper.
• Physical gifts inch ahead: Just over half (54 per cent) of Canadians plan to give physical gifts instead of experience gifts this year.
• Subscriptions rising in popularity: More than one-third (37 per cent) of Canadian shoppers with a preference for experiential gifts will give entertainment subscriptions that can be enjoyed over time, such as video streaming services.

About the Survey

The Accenture Holiday Shopping Survey offers insights into consumer buying patterns during the holiday time period, providing an indication of retail performance expectations both in-store and online at a key time for the sector. For this year’s study, Accenture surveyed 1,537 Canadian consumers online, each of whom had purchased an item for personal use either online or in a store within the previous six months. Respondents represented a variety of age groups, with 10 per cent Gen Zers (aged 18-24), 13 per cent younger millennials (25-31), 16 per cent older millennials (32-39), 25 per cent Gen Xers (40-55), 21 per cent baby boomers (56-69) and 15 per cent aged 70+. The survey was conducted in October 2020.

The pandemic has spurred a massive innovation effort, accelerating the adoption of robots in everyday operations. According to Accenture’s Technology Vision perspective released today, robots are taking on new responsibilities during the pandemic, joining our frontline workers and helping to fight the virus. Robots are disinfecting cities, cooking hospital food, delivering packages… They’re helping businesses do even more, while simultaneously demonstrating new use cases to regulators, workers, and the public. The pandemic is showing robots in their best light and the impact won’t be forgotten.

As the pandemic strengthens the case for automation, the entire industry will move faster than ever. The need for human workers to maintain and control robots remotely will also grow, increasing demand for data scientists and engineers. And, taking robotics out into the open world will also force companies to consider how the public is affected by their products and services.

Accenture’s Technology Vision perspective is worth taking some time to read as it will provide you with some valuable insights. You can also watch the video below: