Technology plays an important role in an organisation’s digital journey, and can indicate a company’s digital maturity.
Forrester has released research examining the current state of digital business and the maturity of technologies relevant for business growth.

The report evaluated companies across three categories: beginner firms in the early stages of their digital journey; intermediate firms already progressing toward a more fundamental business transformation; and advanced firms, which are most often using digital ecosystems to disrupt markets.

Key findings include:

* Advanced versus beginner companies’ outlooks. While 86% of advanced companies see technology as the most important driver of business strategy, less than half of beginners think tech will affect their business strategy to the same extent.

* Technologies leading in maturity. Web, mobile, cloud, and analytics top the maturity list, suggesting that for many firms, digital strategy equates to what they do on the web and mobile.

* Artificial intelligence/machine learning fall behind with beginner companies. While 44% of advanced companies see artificial intelligence/machine learning as critical to strategy, just 27% of beginner companies take the same view.

* Security and privacy tech are firmly in the top 10 — but should be higher. In fact, privacy and security are considered critical for less than 40% of companies. Without effective security, customer trust is easily lost — and expensive to win back.