Couchbase Research Reveals a Majority of Organizations Expect to Fail in Four Years if Digital Transformation Approach Is Unsuccessful

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA--(Marketwired - Jul 26, 2017) - Despite spending millions of dollars on digital transformation in the past year, enterprises still feel they are at significant risk of being left behind by their industries, research from Couchbase shows. In the survey of 450 heads of digital transformation for enterprises across the U.S., U.K., France, and Germany, 80 percent are at risk of being left behind by digital transformation while 54 percent believe organizations that don't keep up with digital transformation will go out of business or be absorbed by a competitor within four years. And IT leaders are also at risk, with 73 percent believing they could be fired as the result of a poorly implemented or failing digital project.

Other findings include:

• 89 percent of enterprises say their industry is either being disrupted by digital technology, or such disruption is only a matter of time, even after spending an average of $5.7 million on digital transformation in the past year
• Respondents overwhelmingly agree on the ultimate goal of digital transformation -- 95 percent say that it should be giving customers and end-users a truly unique experience
• While 80 percent of IT leaders are under pressure to be constantly improving their organization's customer experience through digital innovation, 90 percent of digital projects fail to meet expectations and only deliver incremental improvements
• Databases are currently a clear handicap to this improvement -- 84 percent have had digital projects cancelled, delayed, or reduced in scope because of the limitations of their legacy database

"Our study puts a spotlight on the harsh reality that despite allocating millions of dollars towards digital transformation projects, most companies are only seeing marginal returns and realizing this trajectory won't enable them to compete effectively in the future," said Matt Cain, CEO of Couchbase. "With 87 percent of IT leaders concerned that their revenue will drop if they don't significantly improve their customers' experiences, it's critical that they focus on projects designed to increase customer engagement. Key to succeeding here is selecting the right underlying database technology that can leverage dynamic data to its full potential across any platform and deliver the personal, highly responsive experiences that customers are demanding today."