According to the study, the most important goals of all these measures are to ensure the company’s ability to work during the crisis (96 percent) and to be better prepared for future crises (96 percent). In addition, 6 out of 10 companies (59 percent) also want to use the crisis to make up for shortcomings in the company’s digitalization. And almost one in two (46 percent) plans to digitize their own company sustainably in order to open up new business areas.
Obstacles to digitization: Money and missing solutions are becoming more important
The biggest hurdle for companies in digitization is data protection (69 percent). This is followed by technical security requirements (58 percent) and a lack of skilled workers (55 percent). Compared to previous surveys, a lack of financial resources is mentioned much more frequently. Currently, 43 percent of companies consider this to be one of the biggest hurdles, compared to just 25 percent in April and just 20 percent in 2019. The same as in April, 33 percent cited a lack of time.
On the other hand, the complaint about the lack of availability cash app database of marketable solutions is much more common, with 30 percent voicing this, compared to just 18 percent in April (2019: 17 percent). Berg: “In many areas, such as collaboration or video conferencing, there are a large number of ready-to-use solutions. But anyone who wants to transfer a trade fair from the analogue world to the digital world, for example, will find that in some areas there is a lack of truly widely usable digital applications. This offers innovative providers a new, large market.”
Some companies invest more, others have to reduce investments
However, not all companies are keeping up with the increased digitization to the same extent. For example, 43 percent
say that their investments in digitization have “increased significantly” (11 percent) or “increased somewhat” (32
percent) since Corona. Conversely, 30 percent complain that spending has “decreased somewhat” (27 percent) or
“decreased significantly” (3 percent). There are clear differences depending on the size of the company. Only 10 percent
of companies with 20 to 99 employees and 13 percent of companies with 100 to 499 employees have increased their
investments significantly.
However, for companies with 500 to 1,999 employees, the figure is 24 percent, and for those with 2,000 or more
employees, it is 22 percent. Berg: “There is a risk that the digitalization push caused by Corona will lead to an even
deeper division in the German economy: between companies that largely remain analogue and companies that are
moving ahead quickly with digitalization.”
The companies that have had to cut back on their investments your internal knowledge base becomes external in
digitalization since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic have a variety of reasons for doing so. At the top of the
list is a lack of financial resources due to the consequences of the coronavirus pandemic (66 percent). A similar number
say that projects had to be postponed or other priorities had to be set because the company’s existence was at risk due
to the first lockdown (59 percent each).
A majority also complained about a lack of technical expertise (54 percent) and a lack of time for digitalization
measures during the pandemic (52 percent). One in two (50 percent) did not have the human resources for
digitalization during the crisis. “Politicians acted quickly during the Corona crisis and launched a large number of aid
measures for companies. In the future, funds should be invested primarily in digitalization projects,” said Berg. “At the
same time, we must strengthen cooperation between companies. We need the exchange of digitalization know-how and
must make lighthouse projects and successful practical examples much more visible.”
Bitkom is organizing the Digital Transformation Week for the first time
Bitkom will be showing how digitalization can succeed at the aubdirectory Digital Transformation Week from
November 23 to 27. The five-day online conference is all about digitalization in five core areas of our community and
our economy. Each day will focus on a different topic: health, mobility, energy, agriculture and trade. All information
and the option to book a free ticket can be found at transformation-week.de . With more than 16,000 registrations
already, the Digital Transformation Week is already positioning itself at the top of the largest digital conferences in German-speaking countries in its first year.
