the gap in the tech talent market. On average, digital leaders plan to use digital labor to automate around one in six of their workforces during the next five years. The study also reconfirmed notions that hybrid working is now commonplace in tech, with two to three days a week in the office the average requirement. This has helped with a positive impact on the number of women in the global tech sector, said the report. Female leaders are up to 14 percent globally, and almost a quarter (23 percent) of tech teams comprise female workers. What’s more, 28 percent of new hires in this field during the last two years have been women. Not surprisingly, the report also found that a quarter (26 percent) of digital leaders say remote work has enabled them to recruit talent from overseas. Sustainability in tech was expected to play a greater role this year, but little has changed. A quarter of digital leaders (23 percent) think sustainability has only a negligible or no part to play, and a similar number (22 percent) are using technology to measure their carbon footprint to any great extent. The report asks whether digital leaders have their heads firmly in the sand around this issue – or if it was their executive leadership that was not focusing them on this issue. Does the move to the cloud mean that organizations are viewing energy usage in running tech as somebody else’s (the cloud provider’s) problem? One challenge the report highlights is realizing the potential from data. Although almost two-thirds (64 percent) of digital leaders think big data and analytics will be among the top two technologies to deliver competitive advantage this year, only a fifth (21 percent) feel they are “very” or “extremely” effective at using data insights to generate more revenue. Both figures are down when compared to last year’s report. Another challenge is getting the right skills, with 43 percent of digital leaders hampered by a skills shortage in this area. Regarding remote and hybrid working models that emerged rapidly when the pandemic hit, they appear here to stay, the report concluded. And although these models have delivered “a much-improved work/life balance” for the tech team (64 percent of digital leaders reporting an improvement), the good news story around hybrid working has become more complicated. While more than four in 10 report an increase in productivity from hybrid working, this is in decline from last year ’s results where half of digital leaders saw a boost. Mental illness issues surrounding distributed workers also remains an issue, but digital leaders report that it has marginally improved compared to last year. “Amidst so much change, it will inevitably take time for organizations to find the optimal model for their people proposition and talent strategies,” White said. “Remote and hybrid working are delivering some real benefits, but there are signs that these may be moderating as time passes.” She added, “The mental well-being challenge remains real and is very concerning. This all means that employers must continue to really think hard about their working models, to find the right balance between the flexibility of remote working and the in-person creativity and engagement of asking people to be in the office. “ White said many organizations are redesigning their hiring offers to include enhanced benefits packages and even unlimited holiday policies. “Businesses that are truly open-minded about what’s needed are most likely to find solutions that work both for them and the talent they rely on,” White concluded. o BUYERS SIDE What are the biggest barriers to driving digital innovation in your organization? Select up to 3 A lack of focus/too many distractions 53% Under resourced internally 44% Generating and prioritizing ideas 28% Proving a return on investment 24% Validating the business case 23% Capturing business requirements 21% Technology – not agile enough 18% A lack of senior buy-in to digitization 18% Driver wider adoption of new solutions 14% Rising costs/inflation makes it too expensive 14% Developing a proof of concept 7% Source: Nash Squared ‘Digital Leadership Report 2022’ Source: Mirakl The Technology Maturity Matrix To what extent do you expect the following disruptors will directly impact your organization? Source: Nash Squared ‘Digital Leadership Report 2022’ Source: Nash Squared ‘Digital Leadership Report 2022’ 30% 20% 10% 0% % of shopping done Power shoppers: consumers that shop online once a week or more Shopper Franc Australia UK Sp in U.S. Italy Singapore Germany Brazil Cloud Big data/analytics Internet of Things Robotic process automation On-demand marketplace platforms Artificial intelligence/ machine learning Augmented reality/virtual reality Quantum computing Blockchain/distributed ledger Metaverse 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% 4% 10% 55% 19% 15% 10% 81% 11% 65% 19% 72% 18% 37% 18% 13% 21% 12% 33% 40% 20% 14% 17% 9% 23% 25% 19% 26% 7% 4% 9% 6% 6%3% 3% 19% 14% 24% 10% 18% 17% 32% 23% 5% 26% 63% Have not considered Actively considering Piloting Small-scale Large-scale Economic disruption/downturn Political disruption & conflict Disruption from our own employees (e.g. unexpected resignations) General supply chain issues IT hardware supply chain issues (e.g. chip availability) New business models in your sector 14% 31% 32% 37% 42% 44% 50% 53% 42% 44% 43% 19% 15% 21% 15% 13% 53% 33% Little/no extent Some extent Great extent 18 CHANNELV ISION | JANUARY - FEBRUARY 2023
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