The number of organisations deemed to be at the highest level of digital maturity has increased sevenfold over the past year, according to new research from F5.
For F5’s second Digital Enterprise Maturity Index (DEMI) report, 713 responses from the 2024 State of Application Strategy Report were assessed against six core technical capabilities: infrastructure, app delivery, data, Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) operations, observability and automation, and security.
This year, 29% of organisations qualified as “doers” and were deemed to be making significant strides forward in their digital transformation efforts. In the 2023 report, only 4% reached this level. 54% of organisations surveyed in 2024 were classified as “dabblers”, and just 17% were deemed digital “dawdlers”.
The report highlights that the shift towards hybrid and distributed infrastructure is driving this surge in digital maturity. 82% of “doers” are operating hybrid apps with components in at least two distinct environments, indicating advanced digital readiness and effective AI integration. This was the case for 51% of “dabblers” and 10% of “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 report also found that 74% of “doers” have automated their network security and 53% have done so for network infrastructure, compared to just 8% and 4% of “dawdlers”, respectively. 59% of “doers” have also automated systems that can execute scripts based on conditions and push delivery and security policies.
Data observability, a crucial component for AI readiness, is another area where “doers” are leading the way. 94% of”doers” are either maintaining multiple data stores or consolidating into a single data lake, while two-thirds (65%) of”dawdlers” said they had no strategy for data observability.
“Data governance is now at the forefront of the digital transformation agenda,” explained MacVittie. “The way companies generate, collect, process and retrieve their data will be crucial to harnessing the power of AI, and it’s not a simple process. Most organisations still need to improve when it comes to getting their data in order, but there is clear recognition that this is fundamental to the long-term digital agenda.”
The use of Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) practices is another key indicator of digital maturity. Almost all “doers” (97%) have adopted or are planning to adopt an SRE approach, whereas the vast majority (86%) of “dawdlers” are not.
“Doers” managed an average of 468 APIs, highlighting a sophisticated digital infrastructure prepared for AI integration.
The report also found a significant gap between the most and least digitally mature companies when it comes to security.”Doers” implemented more robust security measures and were more confident in their ability to repel threats. 92% of mature organisations said they have adopted zero trust principles, reflecting higher confidence levels in their security frameworks.
“While AI is primarily an opportunity for organisations, its power in the hands of threat actors cannot be underestimated,” added MacVittie. “The ability to launch sophisticated attacks is increasingly becoming open to anyone with modest prompt engineering skills, and companies must respond accordingly. With increasingly complex and distributed infrastructure, as well as growing pools of data, security and digital maturity must go hand-in-hand.”
