Digital Masters: Balancing Cost Optimization with Innovation through Hyperconvergence

The global economy is showing signs of resilience. However, although the overall economic outlook appears positive in the near future, it remains challenging in the medium term. As a result, enterprises are enhancing their focus on cost rationalization and turning to a zero-cost transformation strategy to drive and safeguard their digital transformation initiatives. In this transformation, cybersecurity also plays a crucial role as organizations prioritize post-pandemic network security. With the need to balance cost optimization with the innovation and growth narrative, enterprises realize the value of hyperconvergence of digital technologies, wherein service providers help them overcome implementational, technological, and talent-related challenges.

Both demand-side and supply-side trends are covered in our Digital Masters 2023 Market Insights™, and our Digital Masters 2023 RadarView™ provides crucial business forecasts for each of the Digital Masters.

This report is the culmination of a rigorous, year-long research initiative wherein we assessed over 60 global technology service providers across three dimensions:

1. 1. Current capabilities in seven technology prerequisites (artificial intelligence, intelligent automation, blockchain, cybersecurity, hybrid enterprise cloud, Internet of Things, and software-defined wan)
   2. The ability to converge multiple technologies for business benefits
   3. The future centricity of the provider’s business and technology vision

Through a detailed assessment, we identified 17 providers whose breadth and depth of capabilities allow them to fully support the digital transformation efforts of their clients.

The RadarView recognizes service providers in four categories:

• • Leaders: Accenture, HCLTech, Infosys, TCS, and Wipro
  • Innovators: Capgemini, Cognizant, IBM, LTIMindtree, and Tech Mahindra
  • Disruptors: Atos, DXC, NTT DATA, and Zensar
  • Challengers: Birlasoft, Mphasis, and UST

The details about service provider profiles and their business outlook can be found in Avasant’s Digital Masters 2023 RadarView™. Figure 1 below from the full report illustrates these categories:

“It has become crucial to find the right balance between running and changing the business to remain agile and adapt to the future,” said Avasant Partner Anupam Govil. “Enabling an end-to-end digital portfolio by innovating with technology hyperconvergence can fundamentally change how enterprises operate.”

The following are some key findings from Avasant’s Digital Masters 2023 Market Insights™:

• • The overall economic outlook, although positive in the near future, remains challenging in the medium term. Global growth is forecasted to be only 3.0% in 2023 and 2024, slowing down from a high of 6.3% in 2021.
  • Enterprises pivot toward zero-cost transformation to achieve their digital transformation goals amid cost pressures. About 71% of the companies reinvested at least 5%–15% of their past savings into ongoing projects in 2022. This is only expected to increase in 2023.
  • The growth in ESG adoption is still driven by stringent compliance requirements across the world. New ESG regulations and sustainability measures are being introduced globally, for example, in Australia, the European Union, India, and the United States.
  • Digital Masters are well poised to cater to evolving enterprise demand through focused investments. They are investing in new engagement models and infrastructure, including CoEs and labs, to drive the hyperconvergence of technologies and are building cross-functional and domain-specific talent.
  • Generative AI projects under consideration fall into the two buckets of revenue impacting and productivity and efficiency projects, based on business objectives. Revenue enhancement can be achieved through new offerings, add-on features, and tapping into new segments. Productivity improvements can be in the form of redefining business processes and improving the efficiency of the existing processes.

“The potential for generative AI is huge and cuts across industries and service lines,” said Avasant Managing Partner Akshay Khanna. “To reap the maximum benefits of the technology, companies must move from incremental gains toward disruptive opportunities by adopting generative AI in their wider digital transformation roadmaps.”

The Digital Masters 2023 RadarView™ also features RadarView profiles of the 17 service providers, including their solutions, offerings, and experience in assisting enterprises in their digital transformation journey.

This Research Byte is a brief overview of the Digital Masters 2023 Market Insights™  and Digital Masters 2023 RadarView™ (click for pricing).