I know submitting to directories is dumb now, BUT...

I do not know who you have been listening to, but directories actually work really well. You have to use the quality, moderated directories, and not the junk most IM'ers use. If you are using a tool to submit to a few thousand directories at once, yeah, they suck.

Dmoz is great. BOTW is good. I use a lot of paid directories. They are usually far better than the typical directories. If it costs money, 99% of IM'ers and spammers stay away.

Directories are as important as ever. Directories will never die in SEO. You can get amazing traffic by using reputed directory sites.

According to me,

If we submit our website to niche related plus high quality directories, then definitely we will get good SERP even after the Google algorithm updates.

If we do DS with low quality sites, automated approval sites, irrelevant sites then definitely our website will be in trouble..!

Directory is good if it is dofollow ,having good PR then it will definitely beneficial in get best SERP

Submitting your site to good-quality, moderated (and better paid) directories still works.
An ex-Googler confirmed it in this interview An Interview with an EX-Member of Matt Cutts's Search Quality team! « James Norquay
Remember?

I also use directories that are paid. And yeah. MikeFriedman is right. They are still good. Sometimes I use free ones but those are kinds of directories that are highly moderated. So yes I would agree DMOZ is great.

Look at any competitive niche, I've noticed a pattern. You build up your base links with real directory sites, good ones are the ones you have to pay for. Once your directory base links are solid, the site will start to gain authority.

Eg: linkcentre.com history going back since 1999 as far I can see

Majestic SEO Stats =
Referring Class C subnets: 2,295
Citation Flow:45
Trust Flow:30

Now that is a good link IMO for a relatively cheap price. Once you build up your base directory links, that's when you can start gaining more and more anchor text links and being abit more aggressive without Google de-ranking you. That's my theory anyway. I've learned from real SEO pros in the industry who've worked on big brands and it's directory submission is common practice. If you want a good directory link then you're most likely gonna need to pay for it.

DIrectory submission is very much effective. But as Mike said, it is important to choose the directories properly as a lot of them are just spammy directories, which can harm your websites.