Research
Digital World Class companies outperform other top performers
Digital World Class® Performance
Objectively measuring what makes a company a top performer has been a primary focus of ours for decades. We’ve quantified what levels of efficiency or effectiveness should be considered world class. More recently, we’ve identified Digital World Class companies – those that surpass even other top performers in efficiency and effectiveness.
Can your company join this elite group? We think so.
Digital World Class performance is attainable
Digital World Class companies typically have a 29% lower overall cost of operations, 83% higher net margins and 55% higher total shareholder return than their peers.
They accomplish this, we’ve found, by modernizing their architectures, migrating applications to the cloud, virtualizing work, upgrading digital skills, and elevating both operational excellence and the value they deliver to the business.
This is a strategy your company can implement. And we are uniquely suited to helping you do so.
Source: The Hackett Group benchmarking data
Digital World Class performance is enabled by digital transformation, resulting in gains in both process efficiency and business effectiveness.
Commit to business process improvement a step at a time
The benefits of being a Digital World Class company include faster decision-making, increased agility, greater customer intimacy and higher revenue growth. Compared to their peers, these companies see nearly 2X net margin and return on investment (ROE), on average, if even one of their business services has undergone digital transformation. That may be their secret – and something your company can replicate – transforming the enterprise one functional area or process at a time.
How Digital World Class pays off for finance
Digital World Class finance organizations spend 43% more on technology than their peers. This leads to 41% lower labor costs and 64% lower transaction processing costs.
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How Digital World Class gives HR a hand
Digital World Class human resources (HR) organizations serve 66% more employees per full-time equivalent than their peers and are 67% more likely to be viewed internally as valued business partners.
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How Digital World Class energizes IT teams
Digital World Class information technology (IT) organizations operate at 33% lower cost per end-user equivalent and have 41% lower outsourcing costs. Yet 3X of their projects deliver targeted ROI.
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How Digital World Class plays out in procurement
Even with 33% fewer employees, Digital World Class procurement organizations operate at 77% less process cost per purchase order. They are also 89% more likely to be viewed as proactive in mitigating supply chain risk.
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How Digital World Class boosts GBS contributions
Because they enjoy 39% lower operating costs than their peers, Digital World Class global business services (GBS) teams can expand the scope of their services and add greater value to the enterprise.
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Featured Insights
The journey to Digital World Class has been mapped
The Hackett Group® has worked with hundreds of enterprises worldwide, helping them transform their operations in order to reach Digital World Class performance levels. We’ve found that several factors must be considered when embarking on such a transformation.
To enable Digital World Class performance, the traditional operating model that focuses on business support, program expertise and standardization for the function must change. Why? Because traditional models perpetuate an insular, function-first perspective rather than the customer-first orientation needed for the level of proactive partnering that business stakeholders need. Digital World Class companies enable partnering that leads to game-changing performance improvements for your organization and enhanced business value.
To attain Digital World Class performance levels requires a responsive, modern technology infrastructure. Many companies that have been held back by legacy technology systems have found a solution by migrating applications to the cloud – including enterprise performance management solutions. Such a migration can help teams throughout your organization filter vast amounts of information and make sense of it more quickly, enabling faster, more confident decision-making.
A modern technology stack will support greater virtualization of work – one of the best practices of Digital World Class companies. While virtualization can lead to significant efficiency gains and related cost savings, it may require a workforce with new or enhanced skills. Finding people who already have those skills in today’s job market can be time-consuming and costly. Upskilling your existing workforce may provide a faster, surer path to meeting the company’s needs.
Digital World Class companies continually monitor the impact of changes to processes or functional areas to ensure that desired business value is obtained and uncover new areas for improvement. This creates a “virtuous cycle” of improvement built upon prior improvements. You can leverage the unparalleled benchmarking data, intellectual property and analytical tools of The Hackett Group to create a monitoring system that ensures your performance goals.
Stakeholders are starting to demand Digital World Class performance
Digital World Class companies have raised the bar on business performance, strengthening their ability to compete even amid disruption. To stay in the game, your company needs to keep pace. This calls for carefully evaluating potential opportunities for improving to Digital World Class levels and committing the resources to pursuing those opportunities.
The Hackett Group has unparalleled intellectual property and benchmarking data and a wealth of best practices recorded at thousands of companies worldwide. This makes us uniquely capable of aiding your leadership team in designing and implementing strategies that move your performance to Digital World Class levels.