by eMarketer

More than half of executives believe there are several hurdles to overcome to keep their businesses in sync with today’s digital world. According to April research, these include discerning new customer habits, a lack of data and legal woes.

Altimeter and Phronesis Partners surveyed 528 strategists and executives in North America and Western Europe across various industries about digital transformation. Perhaps troublingly, solid majorities of respondents rated each of six potential obstacles as “challenging” or “very challenging.”

Figuring out new consumers and their behaviors was most likely to be characterized this way, at 71% of respondents. This was closely followed by lack of data to justify transformation (69%), and worries about compliance and legal issues (67%).

Yet what’s interesting is that some of the challenges mentioned above are, in fact, what those surveyed also said is why digital adoption is surging ahead. In the same study, widening customer habits and choices, as well as keeping up with regulations, were also key reasons for pushing their organizations toward greater digital transformation.

At this point, marketers and many C-level exes know that gaining digital maturity within their organizations is crucial. But there’s much research out there suggesting that many are having trouble keeping up. In that vein, separate data from Real Story Group reported in May that professionals are struggling to adapt company culture for digital technology, as well as figuring out who should lead the efforts.