India most digitally mature country, finds Dell Technologies study

India has emerged as the most digitally mature market in the world, according to a study by Dell Technologies. India secured a score of 58, which is higher than the average score of 50 for emerging economies.

India was followed by Brazil and Thailand in the study, according to Dell's biannual Digital Transformation Index survey which took responses from more than 4,600 business leaders of medium and large enterprises across 40 countries. 

The study reported a higher average digital maturity score of 50 for emerging countries while developed countries reported a score of 44. Japan, Denmark, France, Belgium and Singapore were the least digitally mature economies.

The study, conducted in partnership with chipmaker Intel, analyses the progress in the adoption of digital technologies over the past two years.

Indian business leaders, in general, were more aware and knowledgeable in implementing digital technologies than other countries and wanted to disrupt the business rather than getting disrupted, the study said.

While 36% of the business leaders in emerging countries were evaluating digital technologies, only 31% in developed countries were doing so. More than one-fourth of the business leaders were adopters of digital technologies and another 6% were categorised as digital leaders by the survey.

Telecom, technology, financial services and life sciences were the most matured industries, the study noted. Data privacy and security concerns were the biggest barriers in implementing digital technologies as companies struggled in finding ways to protect data while simultaneously using the data for business transformation, it added.

According to the survey, around half of the business leaders said that the companies will struggle to convince customers over their trustworthiness over the next five years. Even more worrying was the fact that one-third of the respondents did not trust the organisations to safeguard the customer data.

The business leaders were patient when it comes to expecting a return on investment from emerging technologies as it was only the fifth most important reason why they were willing to implement these technologies. Improving productivity, profitability, revenue growth and customer retention were the top reasons, the survey found.

As data consumption explodes, there is an increasing risk of data theft and hacking. This was evident as cybersecurity emerged as the top sector for technology investment, followed by internet of things, multi-cloud and artificial intelligence.