Digital labour is still very much on the agenda, Nash Squared's Digital Leadership Report reveals. Among the digital leaders that we surveyed from countries around the world, the average expectation is that nearly one in six (16%) of the workforce will be automated in the next five years – a similar percentage to the pre-pandemic results in 2019. More broadly, almost a third of digital leaders (29%) believe automation will be critical for gaining a competitive advantage over the next 12 months. Although growing at a slower pace than in previous years, the worldwide market for robotic process automation (RPA) is expected to experience double-digit growth in 2023, growing 17.5% year on year, according to Gartner research. Automation has become more widely used by enterprises, with the most common areas being IT (40% of digital leaders report some usage here), finance (31%), customer support (29%) and human resources (28%).

If companies are changing to exploit the potential of digital business, can the leader's figure ever remain anchored to old practices? The cultural transformation underway necessarily requires an adjustment of professional figures and corporate roles to the new business models and visions. Abandoning the beliefs that worked in the past means using an approach that is more in line with the new goals of Digital Transformation. Let's see what aspects the digital leader will need to work on. We imagine a charismatic man or woman mass dragger when we hear the word leader. A kind of hero who can be trusted to achieve a goal.

If companies are changing to exploit the potential of digital business, can the leader's figure ever remain anchored to old practices? The cultural transformation underway necessarily requires an adjustment of professional figures and corporate roles to the new business models and visions. Abandoning the beliefs that worked in the past means using an approach that is more in line with the new goals of Digital Transformation. Let's see what aspects the digital leader will need to work on. We imagine a charismatic man or woman mass dragger when we hear the word leader.

Like'digital transformation', innovation is an over-used and under-examined term. This applies within business generally, but more especially within the public sector, where there are limits to the amount of disruption and risk that it is considered acceptable to carry within the public domain. Further, a range of questions arises when government'innovates'. These include building the culture and incentives for innovation; understanding what innovation in the digital era is actually about (clue: it's not simply about having a new idea); handling the public-private sector relationship differently; scaling innovations; and handling the politics that inevitably surround changes of almost any kind to public services. The opportunity to chair the second Public Sector Innovation Conference on 25 February was a great opportunity to reflect on these, and many of the other tensions and opportunities that surround ongoing modernisation of public services, and benefit from a really high-quality speaker lineup.

Reimagining business for the digital age is the number-one priority for many of today's top executives. We offer practical advice and examples of how to do it right. Perhaps the biggest surprise of all about digital transformation isn't that large scale change is hard. It's safe to say that is now well established and widely known. It's how to do it repeatably and sustainably that appears to be the key.

The Gartner Data & Analytics Summit I've been writing about recently was filled with prescriptive advice for data analytics leaders. Much of that advice, unsurprisingly, was focused on the red-hot topic of enterprise artificial intelligence and how AI technologies -- from natural language generation to deep neural networks -- are poised to radically disrupt enterprise analytics programs. This complimentary document comprehensively details the elements of a strategic IT plan that are common across the board – from identifying technology gaps and risks to allocating IT resources and capabilities. You forgot to provide an Email Address. This email address doesn't appear to be valid.

The digital economy is accelerating rapidly, yet there is uneven progress as enterprises seek to take advantage of the digital opportunity. In my experience, companies today fall into two categories: those that are surviving, and those that are thriving. The companies that are surviving are perhaps making incremental changes to their business, but largely going about things with a business-as-usual approach typically challenged by siloed organizations, tactical plans, limited expertise and insights. Then there are those that are thriving. These organizations are striving to reimagine their businesses and are neither content nor complacent--they know they can always be more efficient, competitive and relevant.

Rebuilding an IT landscape from scratch is often a tantalizing thought. It may mean new tools and processes to analyze vast volumes of data in real time and make more-informed decisions. Perhaps the inclusion of cloud-based models would accelerate the delivery of new capabilities and guarantee secure, continuous operations. Or better yet, the business may decide to take advantage of next-generation technology such as the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, machine learning, digital twins, or advanced analytics. Of course, to many CIOs' disappointment, this dream scenario is simply a luxury that most businesses – from the one-man startup to the largest conglomerate – cannot afford.

"What to do When Machines Do Everything" book authors (l-r) Malcolm Frank, Paul Roehrig, Ben Pring My interview with Malcolm Frank and Paul Roehrig, two of the three authors of What to Do When Machines Do Everything, published by Wiley. Malcolm Frank is the Executive Vice President of Strategy and Chief Marketing, Cognizant. Paul Roehrig is Chief Strategy Officer for Cognizant's Digital Business. Ben Pring is the Global Managing Director of Cognizant's Center for the Future of Work. Bruce Rogers: What has changed since you wrote Code Halos and why the need for the new book What To Do When Machines Do Everything: How To Get Ahead In A World Of AI, Algorithms, Bots and Big Data? Malcolm Frank: In Code Halos, we looked at why some digital businesses like the FAANG companies (Facebook, Apple Amazon, Netflix, Google) were succeeding and others weren't. We kept probing again and found that every one of those businesses that was a digital leader has now turned into an AI (artificial intelligence) company.