Abstract

LOTRIET, Ra  and  KOKOTWANE DLTSHEGO, K. An assessment of perceptions concerning digital transformation at a South African commercial bank - a case of Anthropocene denial for the economy?. Tydskr. geesteswet. [online]. 2020, vol.60, n.3, pp.687-707. ISSN 2224-7912.  http://dx.doi.org/10.17159/2224-7912/2020/v60n3a8.

Compared to other industrialised countries the South African banking industry is at present well developed and controlled. However, the industry is under stress due to a number of reasons including customer demands for more seamless banking experience. The Fintechs and other digital disruptors such as Blockchain are also causing turmoil in the industry. The banks are under massive pressure to transform their business models to a more customer-centric approach in order to stay relevant. Digital transformation is seen as the solution to the challenges faced by banks. The core digital transformation practices such as leadership, digital trends, digital transformation skills, digital strategies, implementation of digital technologies, and customer-centric approach are seen as influences brought to bear on digital maturity levels. The Bank has felt the disruption and is working towards changing its business model from product-centric to customer-centric. This research was undertaken to assess how the core practices influence digital maturity in the Bank. The participants were asked to rate the Bank's maturity level among the options given; early, developing, and maturing. The majority of the respondents view the Bank as developing in terms of maturity. The statistical techniques were employed to assess the relationship between digital maturity and digital transformation core practices. Furthermore, an ordinal logistic regression analysis was employed to establish what relationship exists between digital maturity level and the combined core factors, i.e. a prediction was made about an ordinal response variable given a set of independent variables. The results revealed that a relationship exists between digital maturity and core practices. In particular, the research has shown that an interconnected set of digital transformation core practices work together to influence digital maturity.

Keywords : digital maturity; digital transformation; digital revolution; the Fourth Industrial Revolution; fintechs; big data; blockchain.

        · abstract in Afrikaans     · text in Afrikaans     · Afrikaans ( pdf )