The 10th edition of PwC's Global Digital IQ survey shows that most organisations around the world have not done enough to keep up with the digital era. The report found that leadership is falling short, with many chief executives not yet fully engaged in the initiatives of digital transformation.

African companies match their global peers in many measures of digital IQ, according to the report with just over half (52%) rating their organisation's digital IQ as strong (strong being a score of 70% or greater). South African companies, on the other hand, stand at risk, with less than half (47%) rating their organisation's IQ over 70%.

Tielman Botha, Digital Lead for PwC South Africa, says digital IQ has a different meaning today than it had when PwC started the research a decade ago.

"Today, the scope and scale of digital-driven change has grown significantly, and organisations have invested a lot of time and money to keep up. Despite notable advances in technology, company leaders are no better equipped to handle the changes coming their way than they were in 2007, according to the survey results."

Botha adds that digital IQ, which is the measurement of an organisation's ability to harness and profit from technology, has actually declined since the company began asking executives to self-assess their own organisations.

C-suite engagement in digital investment has grown in the past decade according to the report although a large portion of chief executives are still behind when it comes to being the change agents.

In 2007, one-third of companies said their CEO was a champion for digital, but that number has remained low when CEOs are responsible for staving off disruptors and driving transformation as detailed in the report.

In 2017 only 68% of respondents (Africa: 65%; South Africa: 50%) stated their CEO championed digital.

"CEO and CIO support is critical to developing successful digital initiatives, along with attention to human factors," Botha adds.

This year's survey results were gathered from the perspectives of 2,216 business and technology executives. The report states that business-model innovation and technology platform integration are considered the top digital initiatives for African organisations over the next three years.

South African companies are more likely to cite technology platform integration (50%, vs. 40% of others in Africa) according to the report's findings.