Caribbean Region Digital Readiness Survey

“Almost three-quarters of respondents believe digital technologies and behaviours have boosted productivity,” according to the Caribbean Digital Readiness Survey held by PWC.

A spokesperson said, “Businesses have set bold ambitions for digitisation, but PwC’s Caribbean Digital Readiness Survey 2021 reveals a wide gap between organisations out in front and those struggling to make headway.

“Most respondents believe that they’re meeting or exceeding targets on integrating new technologies into business processes, and products and services [42% on target and 28% ahead]. But that leaves more than a quarter in the Caribbean region who acknowledge that they are behind target. Moreover, only 15% believe that their digital fitness is on a par with or ahead of the leaders in their industry [“transcenders”].

“Key findings include:

• “More than 80% of businesses in our survey are focusing their digital strategy on modernising their brand with new capabilities ahead of doing what they’ve always done faster and more efficiently [62%].

• “Almost three-quarters [73%] of respondents believe digital technologies and behaviours have boosted productivity. Over half [57%] believe it’s increased employee satisfaction.

• “The survey finds well over half [56%] of companies expect at least 30% of their employees to work remotely more than one day a week a year from now.

• “However, nearly half of respondents [46%] believe their organisation is behind in digital upskilling of the workforce. They cited lack of time and budget as top barriers to upskilling with lack of alignment/clarity on responsibilities relating to digital ownership, and inflexible or slow processes as the biggest challenges to their overall digital transformation.

Arthur Wightman, PwC Bermuda leader, commented: “The key take-away in our survey is that digital transformation is as much about workforce capabilities and empowerment as systems and technology.

“For Caribbean region organisations, further upskilling is critical. Nearly half of our survey respondents believe their organisation is behind in training workers with skills for the digital era. However, an overwhelming 80 percent say their CEO is a champion for digital.”

Zia Paton, PwC in the Caribbean digital leader, commented: “The significant potential of digitisation includes superior, data-driven decisions, a more compelling employee and customer experience, and better tailored and targeted products and services. With so many digital possibilities, however, it’s critical to invest in the right ones.”

Building on PwC’s Global Digital IQ framework, this is the first Caribbean region study to gauge progress on digital transformation, the company added.

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