How medium-sized enterprises are digitalising at present
We have spoken previously about digitalisation and about how it has become a collective term for a number of different processes and areas of application. But to refresh the reader’s memory, digitalisation can be simply described as using digital technology to improve or change your business.
How much progress companies have made in their journey of digitalisation varies a great deal, usually depending on the size of the organisation and in which sector they operate. In this article we’ve chosen to highlight how medium-sized enterprises are digitalising their business at present. Maybe it can inspire your company to start its journey of digitalisation. Or to take it to the next level?
How far have medium-sized enterprises come in the journey of digitalisation?
According to the Swedish Agency for Economic and Regional Growth, it is above all efficiency improvements in various administrative tasks that are achieved when medium-sized enterprises digitalise. It is less common to use IT in their business development, which the Agency believes is something that companies need to review and choose to prioritise instead.
Medium-sized enterprises generally have a relatively high degree of digital maturity when it comes to IT-based business and customer management systems. But a lower level of maturity in the areas of marketing and integration. As mentioned earlier, there are many differences between different sectors. For example, companies operating in commerce have higher levels of digital maturity than the construction industry, which has the lowest level according to the survey. What all medium-sized enterprises have in common is that their general level of digital maturity has tremendous potential for improvement.
Further on in the report, it emerges that only 14 percent of these companies use IT to any significant degree in their business development. This means that many companies risk missing out on the major business and development opportunities that digitalisation can offer. If you only focus on how digitalisation can contribute to internal efficiency improvement, you risk missing out on the potential that digitalisation can bring to the strategic development of the business. Such as developing your customer offering and identifying new market demands. Or using the data to acquire better knowledge of customers and better adapt products to meet their needs.
Motivation is actually the biggest factor behind digitalisation
It is said that digitalisation is 90 percent about people and 10 percent about technology. This means that technological developments are of course very important, but the motivation to implement a digital transition is not about the technology itself, but above all about issues relating to management and governance. Of course, a digitally mature company uses technology to change its operations – but it is always strategy, culture and competence that are the true driving factors.
This means that business managers and board members have a special role and responsibility to deal with both the opportunities and the risks involved in digitalisation projects. Running a business is moving towards increased complexity, with new skills and competences becoming increasingly important in increasing the ability of medium-sized enterprises to develop, grow and compete in the longer term.
Take your business to the next level with digitalisation
In summary, it’s common for many medium-sized enterprises to have focused their digitalisation above all on rationalising certain selected tasks. But what has become clear is that those companies that focus on using digitalisation in their business development really do benefit from it.
We believe that more companies need to stop seeing IT solely as a tool for rationalising selected processes, but also to identify how digital technology can help them achieve greater customer value and develop new markets. Digitalising internal processes is a good first step to get started in streamlining the organisation. But after that, it’s important to keep pushing the boundaries and identify how digital technology can help you reach the next level. One good first step for this can be to implement Business Intelligence in the business.
Can your company use Business Intelligence to continue digitalization?
Business intelligence (BI) is a collective term for various technologies, applications, processes and methods that help companies to better understand their business. BI uses software and services to translate data into manageable insights that, with the right tools, can be presented in various summaries as reports, graphs, charts, etc. BI thus helps to automatically create a detailed picture of the state of the company that can be presented visually in various ways.
Would you like to find out more about Business Intelligence and how you can apply it to your business? Read more about how we can help you via the button below. If you have any questions or thoughts, please feel free to contact us using the form, and we’ll get in touch within one working day.