F5 report shows surge in digital transformation maturity

F5's latest report, the 2024 Digital Enterprise Maturity Index, indicates a significant acceleration in digital transformation, with a sevenfold increase in organisations attaining the highest level of digital maturity over the past year. This year's report evaluated 713 responses from the 2024 State of Application Strategy Report, focusing on key technical capabilities such as infrastructure, app delivery, data, Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) operations, observability and automation, and security.

The analysis reveals that 29% of organisations, termed as "doers," are leading in their digital transformation efforts, a notable rise from 4% last year. Meanwhile, 54% were classified as "dabblers," and 17% as digital "dawdlers."

"Digitally mature organisations are increasingly defined by flexible infrastructures that stretch across core, cloud, and edge locations," said Lori MacVittie, Chief Evangelist and Distinguished Engineer at F5. "That means tackling the complexity introduced by different frameworks, as well as APIs and consoles. It is encouraging that this year's 'doers' are rising to the challenge, investing in hybrid apps that allow them to optimise deployment for both performance and cost. This is also a key indicator of AI readiness."

The hybrid and distributed nature of organisations' infrastructure played a significant role in their digital maturity. According to the report, 82% of "doers" operated hybrid applications with components in at least two distinct environments. In contrast, this was evident in only 51% of "dabblers" and 10% of "dawdlers." Additionally, 59% of "doers" had automated systems capable of executing scripts based on conditions and deploying delivery and security policies, compared to 37% of "dabblers" and 16% of "dawdlers."

Security continues to be a pivotal factor distinguishing the most and least digitally mature companies. "Doers" not only implemented more robust security measures but also had higher confidence in their ability to repel threats. The average score for the adoption of the Secure Development Lifecycle (SDLC) among "doers" was 13.5 out of 15, compared to 10 out of 15 for "dabblers" and 5.5 for "dawdlers." Similarly, 92% of "doers" adopted zero trust security policies, a practice less common among the less digitally mature organisations. Those who had implemented zero trust rated their confidence in repelling application or API layer attacks as 4.4 out of 5, whereas "dabblers" and "dawdlers" rated themselves 2.8 and 2.2, respectively.

Data governance emerged as another area of focus, especially for AI readiness. The report highlighted that 94% of "doers" maintained multiple data stores or consolidated data into a single data lake, setting the foundation for effective AI model operationalisation. Conversely, 65% of "dawdlers" lacked a strategy for data observability.

Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) practices, fundamental for deploying hybrid applications and scaling AI-driven operations, were predominantly adopted by "doers." Nearly all of the digitally mature companies (97%) had adopted or planned to adopt SRE approaches, contrasting with 86% of "dawdlers" who had no such plans.

Overall, the 2024 Digital Enterprise Maturity Index illustrates the wide disparity between the most and least digitally mature organisations, highlighting the critical role of hybrid infrastructure, automation, and advanced data management in achieving digital maturity. The findings underscore the importance of integrating robust security measures and effective data governance to stay ahead in the digital transformation journey.