Source page: McKinsey & Company
Commentary
Tripped up by tech debt
Digital | Strategy
June 7, 2023 – Company leaders recognize how critical technology is for meeting their strategic goals: as much as 71 percent of the value from business transformations across sectors depends on technology. But technical debt—or the “tax” a company pays to address existing tech issues—can stand in the way of modernization. According to senior partner Aamer Baig and colleagues, tech debt accounts for approximately 40 percent of IT balance sheets.
To read the article, see “Breaking technical debt’s vicious cycle to modernize your business,” April 25, 2023.
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Visual form
Semicircular sector comparison chart.
Layout / body structure
The page centers a large arc on the right side of the chart, with sector labels stacked vertically on the left so the reader scans the industries and then matches them to the arc’s technology-dependence scale.
What is being compared
It compares how much of business-transformation impact depends on technology across sectors such as financial services, telecommunications, media and technology, consumer, life sciences, travel, logistics and infrastructure, global energy and materials, and advanced industries.
Measurement system
The measure is percent of transformation value dependent on technology, with the arc functioning as the scale rather than a standard x- or y-axis.
Visible structure inside the graphic
A thick blue semicircular band dominates the composition, sector names are arranged down the left, and the ordering guides the eye from the highest-dependence sectors near the top toward the lower ones beneath them.
Main takeaway from the visual
The graphic is designed to show that technology is not a marginal enabler but a central driver of transformation value across multiple sectors, with some industries sitting especially high on that dependence curve.
Key standout values or extremes
The headline gives the upper bound at 71 percent of transformation value, and financial services appears at the top of the sector ordering while advanced industries sits lower in the visible list.
Controls / sequence, when applicable
This is a static chart image with no in-chart controls to operate.
Companion media, when applicable
There is no separate companion audio or video; the chart image is the full visual on this page.