(Finance) – Italian companies increasingly aware of the need to embrace digital transformation. The positive momentum, however, is undermined by lack of real skills and by a strong resistance to change on the part of the workforce. From a sample of more 500 small and medium-sized Italian companies dimensions a clear orientation emerges to approach digital transformation practices, so much so that 58% of those interviewed declare that they have undertaken reflections to carry out an important digital upgrade by 2024. This is what emerges from the latest research conducted by I-AERInstitute of Applied Economic Research in collaboration with AIDA Partners PR and ISVI, Institute for Corporate Values.
“This scenario of strong interest in digital transformation professed by business owners must not mislead us – he begins Fabio Papa, economics teacher and founder of I-AER. In fact, we have a patchy situation, with Lombardy positioned as the region with the highest digitalisation rate, while Calabria appears to be in last place”.
In more detail, according to I-AER researchers, among the eleven regions with a performance above the national average, eight are located in the north (Lombardy, Emilia-Romagna, Friuli Venezia-Giulia, Veneto, Liguria, Piedmont, and the provinces autonomous Trento and Bolzano), while the remaining three are located in the center (Lazio, Tuscany and Umbria). The regions below the average include all the others, with particular emphasis on the areas of the South, highlighting the persistence of a significant regional gap.
In absolute terms, the areas with the greatest investments in digital transformation are banking followed by manufacturing. In particular, in banking sector, there is a strong focus on “data virtualization”, which aims to manage data from different sources in a unified and virtual way. In the manufacturing sector, priority is being given to advanced data analysis, also thanks to artificial intelligence, to improve the entire production process, including supply chain management. For example, we try to combine data on market demand with specific data from various processes, from production to logistics, to develop the most appropriate strategies.
“In the context described so far – explain the researchers – we must remember that Italy has among the lowest rates of digital skills in Europe. This data is the real point from which to start if we want to undertake a constructive discussion on digital transformation in the business world. If we add to this that the Bel Paese, after Germany, has the most important European manufacturing base, we understand how the topic of digital transformation is of extraordinary relevance for the competitiveness of an entire socio-economic system. Hence the need to reiterate, once again, that the true game-changer is represented by the diffusion of skills necessary for this same transformation to take place. Without this assumption, every investment made will have little or no impact.”
This element, as emerges from the research, becomes particularly relevant when we consider the numerous advantages deriving from digital transformation such as, for example, the ability to develop more efficient operational processes, the improvement of internal communication or, again, the opportunity to encourage more effective and healthy collaboration between different departments. Therefore, improving digital skills represents the fundamental prerequisite for maximizing the benefits of digital transformation with increases in revenues, year on year, which can reach up to 11% even in the so-called mature sectors such as fashion, furniture design and agri-food. Generally speaking, the research conducted by I-AER estimates an ROI (over the three-year period) of around 15% for SMEs that decide to invest in digital technologies.
The data emerging from the analyzed sample show a strong fear by business owners themselves to invest in new digital technologies, especially due to a return on investment that cannot be estimated precisely. To confirm this, 7 out of 10 entrepreneurs believe it is almost impossible to have concretely measurable feedback within 12 months, following the investment made in digital transformation practices. Therefore, although the interest of the companies themselves remains theoretically high, it is easy to understand how the reluctance of the top management is a factor that certainly does not enable the system to modernize in a timely manner, especially when compared with the rest of the European competition.
“Those who frequent small and medium-sized Italian companies – insists Professor Papa – should not be surprised by the ambivalence of the results emerging from the research. In fact, company owners are accustomed to a speed of action unknown to most people who, in the case under analysis, it goes poorly with the (typically long) times associated with a digital transformation process”.
The researchers highlighted that the digital transformation in Italian SMEs is also held back by a further factor: resistance to change on the part of collaborators. Indeed, 6 out of 10 entrepreneurs say they are witnessing significant reluctance on the part of the organization when it comes to changing working methods, especially when introducing new methodologies linked to digital transformation practices that impact the daily routine.
“The tendency of every human being to keep their position intact is completely physiological. The real question is how to deal with it consciously and, from this point of view – concludes Papa – I believe that the element from which to start is that of educating both company owners and their collaborators to deal with change, including organizational change, in a different way. In fact, if on the one hand employers must understand that it is not possible to have immediate returns, on the other hand each collaborator must understand that without digital transformation, their operations will become increasingly less competitive and therefore out of the market”.
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