Study: German companies not ready for digitalization
Most German companies in the retail, production, and manufacturing sectors are not prepared for digital transformation. This is the finding of a study conducted by the Digital Commerce Focus Group of the German Digital Economy Association (BVDW).
Managers from 100 companies were surveyed for this purpose. The companies were divided into five maturity levels - less than half of the companies are in the top two maturity levels. The summary of the study results is available to download free of charge.
The majority of the companies surveyed are not "ready" for digitalization. Every tenth company is in the so-called "dormant phase", the lowest level of maturity. These companies lack an adapted strategy or even digital skills on the part of their employees. Fifteen percent are in maturity level two, the "starter phase". Although initial digital projects are recognizable, they are only implemented in isolated cases. More than a quarter of the companies surveyed are classified in the "pilot phase", in which strategies are already being implemented sporadically based on initial experience with digital projects. The impetus there comes from the management level, resulting in cross-functional teams that develop at least a basic awareness of the digital transformation.
Just under a third (32%) of companies are already in the "digitalization phase" - this corresponds to maturity level four. Here, the cultural change is already clearly visible; digitalization is reaching the company's management strategy, core processes, products and services and is already leading to positive economic effects. Every sixth company achieves the highest maturity level of five and is therefore considered "digitalized": Digitalization runs through all processes, the online world is perfectly interlinked with the offline world and the entire organization is geared towards implementing digital processes.
"The self-perception of German retail companies is sometimes far too optimistic and misrepresents reality," criticizes BVDW Vice President Achim Himmelreich. "German retail companies will only be able to hold their own in globalized competition if they embrace the digital transformation, subordinate all areas and facets of their strategy to digitalization and anchor a corresponding culture in the company. However, the culture of skepticism that is also exemplified by politics in Germany often stands in the way of necessary - albeit courageous - decisions."
