Which Industries Are Ready For the Digital Transformation?

A survey by Boston Consulting Group shows which industries are on average best prepared for digital transformation success. The report gives high marks to the telecommunication sector and an above average review of the health insurance, retail and consumer product industries. Across six different ratings, telcos scored in the first quartile for leadership, strategy, governance and monitoring as well as in the second quartile for talent and and tech use, leading to their high average score.

Health insurance also scored highest in terms of leadership, governance and strategy, while retail and consumer product industries had their strengths in leadership and monitoring. Assets and wealth as well as power and utilities also scored above average, landing squarely in the second quartile when looking at their average score.

The biotech and pharma, automotive and mobility and retail banking sectors scored between the second and third quartile, a rather lackluster showing. Performance was just mediocre in the areas of governance, tech adoption and strategy. On average in the third quartile were the oil and gas industry as well as healthcare providers, lacking again in terms of governance. While healthcare also struggled with strategy, oil and gas scored low on tech adoption. Public sector economic development and government finance had the lowest score.

Banking and government are two sectors often associated with legacy tech, meaning that they sometimes operate large technology and software systems that have become outdated but are difficult to replace. Consultancy Thoughtworks estimates that two-thirds of banks' IT budget in the U.S. is spent on maintenance.