Research

Building a Digital Organization

How digital structure, culture, and talent practices can drive—or inhibit—business performance

September 26, 2022

West Monroe surveyed 300 leaders globally to uncover key drivers for achieving both high performance and high digital maturity, and to identify barriers that organizations are trying to overcome. This report focuses on 14 different practices that organizations can leverage—perhaps not all at once, but over time—to create optimal dynamics for performance and digital maturity.

Every organization’s digital journey is different—but everyone is seeking the same promised land: to become a digital leader.

Digital companies outperform the market. They grow faster, boast higher productivity, and tend to weather economic uncertainty better than others.

To us, digital isn’t something you do; it’s something you are. A mindset, not a destination. Because the goal isn’t just great technology and a seamless customer experience—it’s agility. The acceptance that we can’t prepare for every outcome, but that we can be nimble enough to respond strategically to any challenge or opportunity, large or small.

But the biggest factor holding companies back from reaching their digital potential? Their people—the way they are trained to think, the way their work is structured, and they way they’re organized. In our Be Digital Research in 2022, just 25% of organizations said their entire C-suite is accountable to the digital vision, and that there’s work ahead to build decentralized digital teams. What’s more, companies with the right people drive better, differentiated customer experiences.

The cost of not focusing on talent is too great, even when facing competing priorities. The cost of hiring a new employee is more than three times the cost of upskilling a current employee to have the right digital skillset.

Our Building a Digital Organization research identifies the critical culture, talent, and structure practices driving digital agility and business performance. The findings highlight key accelerators of high-performing companies, noting what makes them especially competitive and positioned for success.