Os líderes dessa transformação eram os EUA, Singapura, Suécia, Suíça e, em quinto, o Reino Unido. Portugal ocupava a 18ª posição, integrado no grupo dos “Adopters”, entre a Espanha e os Emirados Árabes Unidos.

O documento de 2016 fazia as seguintes recomendações para as nações no grupo dos “adopters”:
Policy makers:
– Prioritize government digitization so governments can serve as leaders in digital transformation.
– Aim to double ICT investment as a percentage of GDP to broaden broadband coverage through 4G and FTTH.
– Reduce tariffs and subsidize smart devices to get more devices into homes and schools.
– Invite more third-party cloud services providers to support the nation’s computing needs; invest more in building DC capacity, whether in-house or third-party, to support national computing and storage needs.
– Encourage enterprises, the government, and consumers to adopt cloud services.
– Encourage enterprise to use Software-as-a-Service to promote efficiency and lower costs.
– Encourage technology startups to use Platform-as-a-Service to encourage innovation and lower the bar for market entry.
– Improve the high-speed broadband experience by increasing Internet bandwidth and download speeds.
– Develop plans for rolling out big data analytics to support industry digitization.
Industry leaders:
– Assess the overall digitization status of enterprises and industry, and develop a clear mandate for adopting the five technology enablers to transform verticals and enterprises.
– Lobby the government to define a national standard for high-speed broadband bandwidth, coverage, and speed over the next one to two years to support industry digitization.
– Use the affordable and scalable architecture of cloud services to enable digital transformation initiatives and deploy ICT solutions.
– Integrate big data analytics solutions to shift national digital transformation from Adopter to Frontrunner and industry digitization from Phase 2 or 3 to Phase 4.

Em Outubro passado, o World Economic Forum divulgou o Global Competitiveness Index 4.0 relativo a 2019, em que se analisam vários componentes para um índice que, no pilar relativo à adopção das TIC, coloca Portugal em 34º, a mesma posição que consegue em termos totais no índice da análise a 141 países.