Dell Technologies Digital Transformation Index 2018 (the DT Index) a study completed in collaboration with Intel has been revealed in Malaysia.

The DT Index, which was completed in collaboration with, maps digital transformation progress of mid to large-sized companies and examines the digital hopes and fears of business leaders.

The study reveals that 51 per cent of Malaysian business leaders believe their organisation will struggle to meet changing customer demands and 48 per cent fear they’ll be left behind within just five years.

The DT Index’s calculations are based on companies’ perceived performance in the following areas: delivering against the core attributes of a digital business, their existing IT strategy, workforce transformation strategy and planned investments.

Two years after the DT Index’s initial launch in 2016, Dell Technologies and Intel have more than doubled the scope of the research, from 16 countries to 42 and benchmarked 4,600 businesses, using the following groupings:

The DT Index revealed that only 3 per cent of Malaysian businesses are Digital Leaders, 18 per cent are perceived as Digital Adopters, 28 per cent as Digital Evaluators, while 41 per cent as Digital Followers and 10 per cent makes up the Digital Laggards.

Digital Adopters are companies have advanced digital plans and innovations in place to power their transformation, Digital Evaluators are companies that are cautiously and gradually embracing digital transformation; planning and investing for the future.

Digital Followers are companies that have Very few digital investments and are only tentatively starting to plan for the future, whereas Digital Laggards are those that do not have a digital plan, have limited initiatives and investments in place

According to the research, the top five barriers to digital transformation are lack of budget and resources; data privacy and cybersecurity concerns; lack of the right in-house skill sets and expertise; lack of senior support and sponsorship and immature digital culture: lack of alignment and collaboration across the company

These barriers are hampering digital transformation efforts, for instance, 85 per cent of Malaysian business leaders believe that digital transformation should be more widespread throughout the organisation, while only 10 per cent strongly agree they’ll disrupt rather than being disrupted within five years.

“We’ve talked about being on the cusp of tremendous change for some time now but that’s no longer the case,” said Dell EMC Country Manager-Malaysia, KT Ong.

“The next digital era has arrived and it’s reshaping the way we live, work and conduct business, which means that time is of the essence and genuine transformation needs to happen now, and it needs to be radical.”

The research indicates that businesses are taking steps to overcome their barriers, along with the threat of being outmaneuvered from more nimble, innovative players.

It can be seen with 56 per cent of businesses building security and privacy into all devices, applications and algorithms while 56 per cent are striving to develop the right skills sets and expertise in-house, such as teaching staff how to code.

Also 54 per cent of Malaysian businesses are using digital technologies to accelerate new product/services development while 47 per cent are sharing knowledge across functions, by equipping IT leaders with business skills and business leaders with IT skills

Companies are also turning to emerging technologies and cybersecurity to power (and secure) their transformation which can be seen with the planned investments by Malaysian businesses within the next one to three years as 56 per cent intend to invest in cybersecurity, 50 per cent intend to invest in IoT technologies.

Whereas 39 per cent intend to invest in multi-cloud, 35 per cent intend to invest in Artificial Intelligence and 33 per cent intend to invest in a compute-centric approach to data center design and workload enablement/optimisation.

A number of businesses are beginning to experiment with nascent technologies, almost a quarter (24 per cent) will be investing in cognitive systems, 16 per cent in quantum computing and VR/AR, 14 per cent in commercial drones and 13 per cent intend to explore blockchain technology.

“It’s an exciting time to be in business, we’re at a crucial intersection where technology, business and mankind meet to create a better, more connected world,” added Ong.

“However, only technology-centered organisations will reap the rewards offered by a digital business model, including the ability to move quickly, to automate everything and to delight customers.

“This is why digital transformation needs to be a number one priority.”

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