Inherent habits from the old working world have changed in the face of the pandemic, conferences have become digitalized in no time, half Germany has gone into home office. One Bitkom study has taken a closer look at the digitalization push of the past few months. A key finding: 84 percent of the companies surveyed stated that the coronavirus pandemic has increased the importance of digitalization for their own company. 86 percent say the same for the economy as a whole. Slightly more than half (54 percent) expect the coronavirus pandemic to drive digitalization in their company in the long term.
“The Corona pandemic is clearly a driver of digitalization for the German economy,”
says Bitkom President Achim Berg.
"The good news is: Companies want to do something and drive digitalization forward. The bad news is: Not all of them are capable of doing so."
For the first time, almost all respondents—a full 97 percent—perceive digitalization primarily as an opportunity for their own company. In April, the figure was significantly lower at 90 percent. Seven out of 10 believe that companies whose business models are already digitalized will fare better during the coronavirus pandemic.
“Companies can be immunized against crises beyond Corona by consistently becoming digitally positioned,”
Berg said. 54 percent of companies say digital technologies are helping them cope with the pandemic. The most common acquisitions by the companies surveyed in recent months have been new hardware and software.
However, not all companies have increased their digitalization efforts during the crisis, as many have simultaneously lost revenue and are simply short of funds. While 43 percent have increased their investments in digitalization since the coronavirus pandemic, 30 percent have had to reduce their spending. Smaller companies in particular have so far lacked the resources for advanced digitalization during the crisis.
Data protection regulations hinder digitalization
Overall, the pandemic is hitting many companies hard: 69 percent say they have weathered the crisis "very poorly" (40 percent) or "fairly poorly" (29 percent) so far. Around one in three companies (32 percent) even consider it "fairly likely" (20 percent) or "very likely" (12 percent) that they will have to file for insolvency as a direct result of the coronavirus pandemic.
The focus on digitalization during the coronavirus crisis has led many companies to reassess their own level of digitalization. While 39 percent saw themselves as pioneers of digitalization last year, and 36 percent this April, that number has now fallen to just 27 percent. Companies give themselves a grade of 3.4 in terms of digitalization.
The biggest hurdle on the path to greater digitalization is data protection (69 percent). This is followed by technical security requirements (58 percent) and a lack of skilled workers (55 percent). Forty-three percent cited a lack of financial resources as the biggest obstacle.
