Are Aussie businesses still struggling with digital strategies?

It is no surprise that digital transformation is rapidly being adopted across businesses in Australia and New Zealand (A/NZ), especially with emerging technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning leading the charge.

But a closer look into the strategies behind digital show business uncertainties, according to findings of a study by Pure Storage.

In the study, Pure Storage revealed that digital transformation is reaching a tipping point across the region, with 57 per cent of businesses across A/NZ, and 46 per cent of businesses across the Asia Pacific and Japan region, now deriving more than half their revenue from digital streams.

The independent survey which polled more than 3,000 organisations in Asia-Pacific and Japan and 500 in A/NZ, also found that 52 per cent of businesses in A/NZ are looking to digital services to drive faster innovation, while 44 per cent said digital services can help them determine new potential business models.

But against this digital gold rush, businesses across A/NZ are still unsure about the optimal IT strategy that underpins their move to digital, and who is responsible for it, it stated.

Specifically, companies in A/NZ are on the fence about cloud – 50 per cent of businesses polled said they plan to move their business critical workloads to public cloud in the next 18 to 24 months, with the rest planning to adopt private cloud solutions.

In addition, it found that 34 per cent of A/NZ enterprises have moved workloads from public cloud back to on-premises, with the biggest concern against public cloud use being security (57 per cent of respondents). 

Pure Storage A/NZ regional vice-president, Mike Sakalas, said local enterprises are learning that if they want to build out a new class of web-scale applications and leverage the latest in predictive analytics, AI, and machine learning, they need the right data strategy and platform.

“Australian and New Zealand businesses have faced a colossal shift in infrastructure in light of digital transformation over the last few years.

“But this drive to digital hasn’t translated into a headlong rush to public cloud, like in other regions, making it clear that organisations across A/NZ are being thoughtful about how they store, collect, and use data,” he mentioned.

But with the right strategies in place, businesses might find success in these areas.

The study found that public cloud is poised to grow in Asia-Pacific and Japan, with 54 per cent of respondents in the region planning to increase public cloud usage over the next 18 to 24 months.

Pure Storage Asia Pacific and Japan regional vice-president, Michael Alp, said businesses need to understand how to use the entire data ecosystem — cloud and on-premises — in order to put their data to work and mine insights to deliver customer results.

“It’s clear that digital transformation is no longer just a buzzword, it’s actually happening. This transformation will affect all businesses across the region in the coming years, forcing them to reconsider how and when they collect and use data,” he added.