How the UK missed a £111 billion digital opportunity

£111 billion and 676,000 new jobs.

That’s what slow digital change cost the UK between 2021 and 2023, according to our latest work with the Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr).

The survey of 1,000 UK decision makers across the private and public sectors, looking at the impact of digital culture on UK firms, uncovered two types of organisations:

1. Digital leaders, who are actively increasing their use of digital technology
 

2. Digital followers, who are not actively improving their digital capabilities

Had those we identified as digital followers been as fast and bold with digital change as their digital leader counterparts between 2021 and 2023, they would collectively have added an extra £111 billion to UK GDP and created 676,000 new jobs.

And it’s not just about the impact on the wider economy and society.

During that time, digital leaders outperformed digital followers across every economic metric, with higher revenue, happier employees and happier customers too.

Just some of the perks they benefited from included:

• Twice the productivity growth of digital followers
• 12% average turnover growth vs. 6% for digital followers
• 9% average headcount growth vs. 3% for digital followers
• Three times higher employee satisfaction than digital followers So what else did our research tell us?

When we talk about digital culture, we’re essentially referring to the mindset and practices that allow technology to be integrated across every aspect of an organisation, whether that’s cloud-based software to improve collaboration, better use of data or improved cybersecurity.

So yes, it’s about technological progress, but it’s also about the way organisations embed that technology and empower their people to use it.

75% of digital follower organisations see their digital culture as strong already.

And yet:

• Only 21% made a permanent change to their operations as a result of digital investment
• Only 26% permanently improved their cloud computing capabilities

Perhaps this perception gap comes from a lack of knowledge about what real, effective digital change looks like – after all, the word ‘digital’ is incredibly broad and applies to almost everything today.

Perhaps it’s a sign that digital investment isn’t always happening in the right places, at the right time, in the right way.

Or perhaps it’s because, while they might have invested in some of the right technologies, digital followers haven’t done enough to empower their people to get the most out of those tools.

92% of digital leaders said upskilling and reskilling is an important part of their digital strategy, so our research certainly seems to support that hypothesis.

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• How a digital culture can build a more diverse and inclusive workforce
• 4 ways a digital culture can benefit your customers
• How embedding a digital culture can boost ROI
• How tackling mobile working challenges can enrich your organisation’s digital culture