South African companies are increasingly adopting, at varying levels, innovative technologies such as the cloud, edge computing, artificial intelligence (AI) and the Internet of Things (IoT).

A new joint study by Accenture and Microsoft found that 80% of South African companies are at various stages of adopting digital technologies, from wide adoption and partial implementation to piloting stages.

According to the research, 78% of the companies surveyed are planning to invest in fifth-generation- (5G-) enabled campus networks and 66% are planning to invest an incremental 3% to 10% of their information technology budget on advanced networks such as 5G over the next five years.

However, the research also shows that organisations may find it difficult to unlock value from their investments.

The study, ‘Unfolding the next growth chapter in South Africa’, included a survey of senior technology executives from 100 local enterprises to understand their perspectives on 5G impact, adoption, use cases, barriers to adoption and the 5G solution ecosystem and partners.

Six key industries were covered in the study, namely manufacturing, retail, financial services, government, healthcare and natural resources.

Technology and network connectivity infrastructure have become critical strategic imperatives for businesses, driven by postpandemic ways of working and a continuous need to accelerate digital transformation and scaled innovation.

“Today, most companies are implementing unique technologies and upgrading networks as standalone transformation projects, therefore, falling short of delivering holistic business value. Sixty-five per cent of executives perceive tremendous challenges in navigating the network and digital technology integration complexity, extracting return on investment and choosing the right partner ecosystem and platform for solutioning,” says Microsoft Middle East and Africa global partner solutions leader Amr Kamel.

The study found that regional enterprises have a strong appetite to adopt and use 5G.

“It is promising to see how organisations perceive 5G as an accelerator to advance their digital transformation journey and scale innovation. Next-generation network technologies will have a significant impact on business outcomes, and leaders must plan ahead to make the most of them.”

“While South African enterprises show a clear appetite for new technologies, our joint study reveals that organisations may find it difficult to unlock value from their investments,” adds Accenture Communications, Media and Technology South Africa MD Nitesh Singh.

The report highlights three common barriers among the various industries, namely navigating the complexity of new networks and associated technology integration; managing significant investment of resources while extracting business value; and navigating the still-maturing partner and device ecosystem.

Despite this, a small group of high- performing companies, or “tech leaders”, have broken through these barriers and are on track to deliver more value than their peers over the next three years.

Tech leaders expect revenue to grow 1.74 times faster and expand margins two times higher, and are 84% more likely to see their 5G and network investments result in faster time to market for new products or services.

Tech leaders also expect to invest an incremental 9.4% of their information and communications technology (ICT) budget on 5G and next-generation networks and 11.7% of their ICT budget on innovation in the next three years, compared with the respective 6.3% and 7.2% investments by their peers.

Sixty-nine per cent of tech leaders, compared with 20% of their peers, dedicate more than one-fifth of their workforce to innovation.

Further, the tech leaders recognise the relevance of the convergence of 5G with digital technologies and see convergent technology platforms as critical enablers of transitioning from a piecemeal approach to a more holistic end-to-end digital transformation.