How App Failures and Ho-Hum Digital Experiences Hurt Business

The vast majority of organizations face severe, bottom line-impacting consequences if their digital performance does not improve—or, even worse, declines—over the next year, according to a recent survey from Riverbed Technology. The resulting “Riverbed Digital Performance Global Survey 2018” report indicates that routine tech breakdowns are contributing to the problems. It’s also critical for companies to invest in better digital experiences for users and customers to reap the rewards of greater market agility, increased profits and boosted employee productivity. More than 1,000 global business decision-makers took part in the research. The following slide show features survey highlights, with graphics provided courtesy of Riverbed Technology.

The findings reveal that 95 percent of respondents believe their company will face consequences if their digital performance/experience does not improve—or worsens—over the next 12 months. The biggest perceived consequence is the loss of sales and revenues (as cited by 42 percent), followed by delayed product launches, loss of customers and brand loyalty (all three at 41 percent).

Four of five respondents said their organization’s important digital services and apps fail “a few times a month” or more, impacting key business needs. And 22 percent said these services and apps fail a few times a week or even more.

More than two-thirds of respondents believe that IT-related issues with a critical digital service or app should be resolved within an hour. Nearly one of five feel these issues should be resolved within minutes.

More than nine of 10 respondents said that providing a successful digital experience is more important to their company’s bottom line now than it was just three years ago. In addition, 77 percent said it’s critical for their company to invest in improving digital experiences for users and customers over the next 12 months.

In examining responses among business decision-makers from different generations, 96 percent of Millennials feel their organization needs to invest in improving its digital experience over the next 12 months and 79 percent of Gen Xers agree. In contrast, just 49 percent of Baby Boomer business decision-makers feel this way.

More than two-fifths of respondents believe that the pace of progress is moving too slowly. In the U.S., such sentiments are stronger, with nearly one-half of respondents feeling this way.

Nearly all respondents—99 percent—believe that optimizing digital performance plays an essential role in optimizing business performance. One-half agree “strongly” with this statement.

The improvement of customer experiences/satisfaction ranks at the top of expected benefits from improved digital services and apps, as cited by 53 percent of respondents. Other significant benefits include greater market agility (as cited by 49 percent of respondents), increased revenue/profitability (49 percent), boosted employee productivity (49 percent) and faster time to market (48 percent).

When asked to list their company’s greatest challenges in achieving a successful digital strategy, 51 percent of respondents selected budget constraints. Complex and rigid legacy infrastructure ranked second (as cited by 45 percent of respondents), followed by a lack of visibility throughout digital and end-user experiences (40 percent) and lack of skilled personnel (39 percent).

Nearly all respondents (98 percent) agree that a next-generation infrastructure that delivers greater agility would play an important role in improving digital performance. Nearly one-half agree “strongly” with this statement.