Figure 3.1 Distribution of leaders & laggards within each industry In many cases, industry segments in the survey showed increased momentum for digital transformation initiatives. Financial services (including insurance) swung from 45% of respondents reporting that they “Always want to be at the forefront of IT” in our 2021 study, to 75% in this year’s survey, while 64% of legal and high- tech businesses reported the same. Amid the pandemic, retail was near the top of the 2021 survey with 56% of respondents classifying themselves as leaders. This increased to 58% in 2024, as many companies continued efforts around customer support and online or hybrid shopping experiences. At the other end of the scale, a slowing real estate market, rising interest rates, and layoffs at tech-oriented real estate platforms like Zillow and Redfin revealed an industry less invested in transformation, with 80% falling under the “laggards” category. Of that majority, 67% are taking a more cautious approach of monitoring new tech and making decisions after seeing the experiences of other competitors; another 7% only engage new tech when the status quo has proven ineffective. Education, hospitality, food/beverage, and government (reported in the ‘other’ category) joined the energy industry at the “laggards” end of the transformation pool. 11 Copyright © 2024 AVANT Communications, Inc. 36% 42% 45% 52% 58% 25% 47% 49% Source: AVANT Analytics State of Disruption 2024