The document discusses how companies can become "Leapfroggers" and close the performance gap between Leaders and Laggards in technology adoption. It finds that Leaders have significantly increased their growth rate compared to Laggards during the COVID-19 pandemic. To become Leapfroggers, companies need to replatform by moving to the cloud, reframe their mindset to focus on innovation and collaboration, and reach by expanding access to technology across their organization and addressing employee and social issues. Case studies are provided of companies like Santander, Carrefour, and Deutsche Telekom that exemplify these approaches and were able to adapt successfully during the pandemic.

1. From insights to action, the path to extraordinary value starts here.
Make the leap,
take the lead
Tech strategiesforinnovationandgrowth

2. A staggering gap in
performance and
getting wider
Before the pandemic, our research found
that Leaders in technology adoption and
innovation were growing at 2x the rate of
Laggards.
Companies havecompressedtransformation
in the face of COVID-19. And
Leaders are now growing 5x faster
than Laggards.
2
Leaders have extended their advantage over Laggards
2x 5x
Leaders’growthrate:9.11
Laggards’growthrate:4.24
Leaders’growthrate:3.98
Laggards’growthrate:0.80
Leaders’revenue
Laggards’revenue

3. Leaders doubled down on technology
investment during the pandemic
3
Sample: Leaders: n = 430, Laggards = 1075
>50%
Leaders accelerated their investment
in different types of technologies
during the pandemic.
Acceleration in Investment for Specific Technologies
during the COVID-19 pandemic
The investments in keytechnologies-
such ascloudandAI - helpedLeadersnot
only absorbimpactquicklybutrefocuson
growth
Security
Real time data
Cloud
IOT
72%
69%
68%
70%
50%
49%
47%
50%
Leaders Laggards

4. Leaders Laggards
Leaders focus on
creating broader value
Theyreachbeyondtraditionalbusiness priorities
creatingnew value forall stakeholders
• Providing access to innovative technology
• Creating value with partners
• Bolstering data sovereignty and privacy
• Reskilling and upskilling employees
• Improving employee experience, well-
being and mental health
• Designing human-centric customer
experiences
4
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Employee
training
Employee
experience
Customer experience
Data sovereignty and
privacy
Creating value with
partners
Access to innovative
technology
Percentage of companies achieving specific goals and activities

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Will only Leaders
succeed?
Introducing Leapfroggers
Copyright © 2021 Accenture. All rights reserved. 5

6. What makes a
Leapfrogger?
6
IT Spend = 100%
Making the IT budget allocation flip to innovation
Others
Laggards
Leaders
Leapfroggers
Share of IT spend on operations and maintenance versus
innovation and discretionary spending
Leapfroggers build core Systems Strength, adopting
and scaling new technologies across their enterprises.
Leapfroggers flip their IT budget allocation, from
maintenance and operations to favor innovation (30%
/ 70%).

7. 7
Theirsuccess provides a roadmap to
those that need to acceleratechange
Replatform
for Systems Strength by moving to and
innovating in the cloud
Reframe
their mindset shifting focus to innovation and
collaborating with partners
Reach
for expanded access to technology across
functions and embracing a broader value agenda
addressing employee reskilling, well-being and
mental health.
How Leapfroggers
overtake peers and
catch up with
Leaders

8. They replatform
Building Systems Strength by moving to
and innovating in the cloud
8
Copyright © 2021 Accenture. All rights reserved.

9. Copyright © 2021 Accenture. All rights reserved. 9
Banco Santander SA, the Madrid-based multinational financial services firm, shows replatforming at
work. In 2019, Santander consolidated all of its digital services into a single global unit, removed
potential duplication of apps and systems, and ensured that any new platforms are built “only once.”
In replatforming, Santander dismantled internal silos. Systems now clearly map to capabilities.
Investments in IT bring together all stakeholders across the organization, instead of creating shadow
IT systems and leaving some groups out in the cold.
Thanks to these replatforming efforts, the bank's app was recognized as the Best Bank for Digital
Services in Spain in 2020.
Santanderused the cloud to extend digital capabilities across newmarkets and
applications
Building Systems Strength in the cloud
Note: This description is based on publicly available information and is not a result of work performed by Accenture.

10. They reframe
Changing their mindset to innovation
and collaborating with partners and
platforms
10
Copyright © 2021 Accenture. All rights reserved.

11. Copyright © 2021 Accenture. All rights reserved. 11
Carrefour Group, one of the world’s biggest supermarket chains, has been in the throes of a major
overhaul to boost sales and profits and transform itself into a digitally savvy food retailer. Driving its
strategy? Innovation.The company wants to increase food e-commerce sales to 4.2 billion euros by
2022.
To get there, the company has invested 2.8 billion euros in its digital transformation and has partnered
with the likes of Google to create innovation labs and reinvent the customer experience, and with
startups to foster external innovation.
The investments in innovation technologies paid off when the pandemic hit. In 2020, globally,
Carrefour drove growth of more than 70% in food commerce, reaching 2.3 billion euros and it’s on
track to meet its 4.2 billion euros target by 2022.
Carrefour droveits strategy though innovation –with others.
Theyfocused on collaborating with partners from Google to startups.
Second-mover mindset: innovation and collaboration
Note: This description is based on publicly available information and is not a result of work performed by Accenture.

12. They extend their
reach
Expanding access to technology across
functions, and embracing a broader value
agenda addressing employee reskilling, well-
being and mental health
12
Copyright © 2021 Accenture. All rights reserved.

13. Copyright © 2021 Accenture. All rights reserved. 13
Germany’s DeutscheTelekom (DT), the telecom giant, embodies what it means to reach.
As COVID-19 lockdowns struck, DT’s networks faced an onslaught of traffic (digital conferences
increased 322%, and Netflix demand soared 3074%).Yet DT’s networks remained stable and secure,
and the company moved 16,000 service and call-center employees into home offices rapidly.
Why? Because in 2016, DT began to modernize its IT estate and invest in cultural and tech innovation.
The enterprise-wide transformation aimed to improve employees’ skills, democratize access to tech
across the enterprise, and restore stability and reliability to its IT organization.
DT was flexible, resilient and innovative during the pandemic - for both their employees and customers-
as opposed to merely focusing on survival
Expanding access to technology
Note: This description is based on publicly available information and is not a result of work performed by Accenture.

14. Reach
Expand access to technology across
functions and embrace a broader
value agenda
Where to start
Scale technology and talent based
on value to reach beyond
traditional business priorities.
Reframe
Shift the focus to innovation and
collaborate with partners and
platforms
Where to start
Flip the IT budget allocation to
innovation and freed-up capital to
further invest in new
technology innovation.
Replatform
Build Systems Strength by moving
to and innovating in the cloud
Where to start
Migrate and modernize your IT
landscape with cloud through
careful assessment and
prioritization.
100%
Steps towards leadership
Evolving technology strategies deliver greater
success when companies master these three
imperatives
14

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Make the leap,
take the lead
accenture.com/takethelead
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