The corona pandemic has triggered a sustained digitalization boost in German companies. Around every second person (49 percent) says that Corona has accelerated the digitization of their own business model. Two years ago, shortly after the pandemic began, it was only 15 percent. Corona has accelerated the digitalization of business processes in 44 percent of companies (2020: 18 percent). 6 out of 10 companies (60 percent) are convinced that digital technologies have helped to overcome the pandemic.

A slim majority (53 percent) emphasize that Corona has triggered a surge in innovation in their own company. And 4 out of 5 companies (83 percent) now have a digital strategy; two years ago the proportion was only 74 percent. These are the results of a representative survey of 1,102 companies with 20 or more employees from all sectors of the economy on behalf of the digital association Bitkom. Investments in the digitalization of office and administrative processes are expected to continue to increase in the current year. 29 percent of companies want to invest more this year than in 2021, only 14 percent plan to reduce their investments. The majority (53 percent) are leaving spending unchanged.

Corona was obviously the impetus for many overdue digitalization measures

“Digitalization makes companies crisis-proof. This realization has become established in the German economy as a result of the corona pandemic. “Companies have recognized that digital transformation doesn’t come for free,” says Bitkom President Achim Berg. “Corona was obviously the impetus for many overdue digitalization measures, and the digitalization boost triggered by Corona is continuing.”

Video conferences are used more frequently, faxes and letters less frequently

As in the past, the standard of corporate communication includes email (100 percent) and landline telephones (96 percent). 83 percent of companies use smartphones very often or frequently; two years ago it was 81 percent and in 2018 only 51 percent. Video conferences are part of everyday life in 72 percent of companies; in 2020 it was 61 percent and in 2018 only 48 percent. Half of companies (51 percent) use Messenger; two years ago it was 50 percent. Collaboration tools are used by 40 percent (2020: 36 percent). And every third company (36 percent) now frequently communicates via social media (2020: 29 percent, 2018: 25 percent). At the same time, traditional means of communication are used less frequently.

For the first time, less than half of companies (48 percent) use postal mail frequently or very often (2020: 56 percent, 2018: 71 percent). And only 40 percent often use the fax. Two years ago it was 49 percent, in 2018 it was even 62 percent.

Berg: “The digitalization of communication channels is irreversible – and it has accelerated significantly again. While the use of video conferences and collaboration tools was initially forced in many companies by the pandemic or was born out of necessity, the diverse advantages have now convinced even doubters. Hybrid working will become the standard.”

The possibilities of digital tools are not yet being exhausted

However, a closer look at the use of collaboration tools also shows that the digital potential is far from being exhausted. When using tools such as Microsoft Teams, Slack or Google Workspace, the use of simpler applications currently predominates. 8 out of 10 companies use audio or video conferences from collaboration solutions (88 percent), use appointment management (83 percent), use individual or group chats (81 percent) or use file storage for collaboration on documents (77th). Percent).

However, more complex applications such as the distribution and tracking of tasks (65 percent), collaboration with external parties such as customers or suppliers (63 percent), knowledge management (41 percent) or virtual workspaces (41 percent) are used much less often.

“Companies often simply recreate the old, analog processes digitally,” says Bitkom President Achim Berg. “Further efficiency gains are possible if the completely new possibilities of digital tools are integrated into everyday work and company processes.”

ECM, CRM, ERP: Digital office solutions are standard

The use of digital office solutions also increased significantly during the pandemic years. Three quarters (76 percent) of companies now have at least one application for Enterprise Content Management (ECM) in use, which, among other things, enables digital management of business documents (2020: 68 percent). Three quarters (77 percent) also use a customer relationship management application (CRM) to digitally manage customer contacts (2020: 60 percent). And even 95 percent use Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), i.e. the digital planning and control of resources such as materials or personnel (2020: 77 percent).

Berg: “An archive full of paper folders or customer lists on index cards must be a thing of the past. Germany is on the way to the data economy and the prerequisite for the use of data is the abandonment of analog business processes.”

There is widespread satisfaction with the use of digital solutions for business and administrative processes. Three quarters see an improvement in the fulfillment of compliance guidelines (74 percent) and performance (72 percent). 7 out of 10 companies see an increase in transparency (70 percent) and automation (68 percent) of processes and two thirds (66 percent) in customer satisfaction. One in three companies sees an increased range of new products and services (38 percent) as well as increased satisfaction among employees (36 percent). The picture when it comes to data security is inconsistent. Here, 45 percent of companies see an increase, but 11 percent also see a decrease through the use of digital solutions.

Farewell to paper is getting closer

The paper-free office is getting much closer. For the first time, more than half of the companies (53 percent) say that less is being printed out than a year ago. In 2020 it was 49 percent, in 2018 it was only 33 percent. At the same time, 86 percent state that the company aims to replace postal mail with digital communication. That's the same number as two years ago, but twice as many as in 2018 (43 percent). At the same time, however, almost three quarters (72 percent) now say that they have succeeded in replacing postal mail with digital communication. Two years ago this was only 63 percent, four years ago it was only 30 percent.

“Paper is often no longer the ideal carrier medium. Thanks to fast broadband connections and powerful devices, many people’s everyday communication is shifting to digital space – and companies are following people,” says Berg.

There has also been a rapid increase in the use of digital invoices during the pandemic. For the first time, the group of companies that predominantly create their invoices electronically is the largest at 40 percent. Only 25 percent create most invoices on paper, 32 percent use digital and analogue methods in roughly equal proportions. Two years ago, only 24 percent primarily used digital invoices, but 33 percent primarily used paper-based invoices and 41 percent used both methods equally.

Money, security, skilled workers: the biggest hurdles in digitalization

The biggest hurdles to digitalization continue to be the perceived need for too much investment (73 percent), the fear of unauthorized access to data (65 percent) and insufficiently qualified personnel (64 percent). In addition, around every second company mentions a lack of time (55 percent), fear of data loss (54 percent), and a lack of standards (53 percent). Legal and regulatory provisions (52 percent), excessive data protection requirements (51 percent) and IT security (51 percent). Resistance within the company (41 percent) and a lack of external advice (33 percent) are mentioned less frequently. There is hardly any doubt about the economic benefits of digitalization. While this was unclear to 34 percent of companies in 2018 and 27 percent two years ago, it is now only 19 percent.

“The last doubts about the necessity of digitalization have been dispelled. However, digitalization is not a sure-fire success; it requires effort and resources. “Companies now have to concentrate on removing the existing hurdles,” emphasizes Berg.

Digital Office Index 2022: Large companies are significantly further ahead than small ones

The Digital Office Index, published by Bitkom every two years, rose on average from 55 in 2020 to 59 points this year. 100 points represent completely digitized, 0 points are not digitized at all. Large companies are much further ahead than smaller ones. The Digital Office Index for companies with 500 or more employees is 68 points, and that for companies with 100 to 499 employees is 63 points. Companies that employ 20 to 99 people, on the other hand, only achieve 58 points. According to this year's Digital Office Index, 39 percent of companies are among the pioneers in digitization and 36 percent have average digitization progress. At the same time, 23 percent have below-average progress in digitization and 2 percent are considered laggards.

The complete study on the Digital Office Index 2022 is available for download here: www.bitkom.org/doi-2022 ( pdf )

The status of the digitization of office and administrative processes is also the topic of tomorrow Digital Office Conference . On May 18, 2022, over 600 participants will discuss work in intelligent organizations with more than 50 speakers in keynotes, panel discussions and workshops. Participation is free. More: www.office-conference.com

Note on methodology: The information is based on a survey carried out Bitkom Research 1,102 companies with 20 or more employees in Germany were surveyed by telephone. The survey is representative of the overall economy.

Also read: Smartphone recordings are often forgotten


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Notes:
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