Research by Acquia has uncovered a huge gap between digital strategy and execution in large enterprises.

Over a third of chief digital officers and chief information officers in large organisations do not feel they have enough support from their boards when it comes to executing their digital strategies, according to a report released today by Acquia, the digital experience company.

This lack of support is felt despite 80% of those same CDOs and CIOs saying digital is integral to their organisations’ operations and performance.

>See also: A digital divide in the boardroom

This disconnect between strategy and execution is detailed in the report, which draws on research of more than 450 digital leaders from organisations across the UK, France and Germany.

It examines how large organisations are performing in an increasingly mature digital world where consumers expect top-class seamless experiences on any device at any time.

The report also highlights several specific areas where organisations are struggling to deliver effectively on their digital strategies.

Most (61%) are struggling to achieve customer satisfaction across all digital touchpoints, while over half (57%) are challenged when it comes to executing standard digital strategies to a high standard.

Nearly half (47%) struggle to keep content up to date and the vast majority (89%) find executing successful personalisation difficult.

>See also: The changing role of the CIO and boardroom in 2017

James Murray, EMEA general manager at Acquia, said: “With so much noise and hype around the digital customer experience, we wanted to see just how today’s businesses are faring in the challenge of transforming the digital performance of their operations.”

“The startling thing about this research is that, while there is a high degree of confidence at the strategic level among CDOs, this confidence is not mirrored by those who execute those strategies. What we see instead is that, once the strategy enters the real world, there are numerous barriers to delivering on the ambition. Whether this is down to a lack of internal support, things taking longer than expected, or the sheer complexity of operating in a multi-everything environment, these barriers risk limiting the performance of businesses in an ever more digital world.”