The stumbling block of digitization

According to a recent survey by the Association of German Engineers (VDI), a good 52% of respondents said that companies outsource their own expertise on the things that make up the digital transformation.

"This trend should give us pause for thought"

says VDI President Prof. Udo Ungeheuer.

"In the future, service and business models will be based on the availability and use of data. It will be important not to become dependent on others, but to have the necessary expertise within our own company and in Germany. For this reason, we believe that the trend to train our own staff less is the wrong signal."

Gloomy assessment with a positive outlook

The VDI survey shows that around 53% of respondents rate the current international competitiveness of Germany as an IT location as average or even poor.

Dieter Westerkamp, Head of Technology and Science at the VDI:

"Since 2012, this figure has risen by over 20 percentage points. However, the number of experts who rate this parameter as good has fallen by 20 percentage points in the same period."

Nevertheless, there is hope for a positive development. When asked how the competitiveness of Germany as an IT location will change over the next three years, 39% of respondents believe that there will be an improvement.

This is 19 percentage points more than in 2012, and an impressive 85 percent of respondents also expect demand for IT specialists to increase over the next three years.

Underqualified managers

The second edition of the "German Industry 4.0 Index" shows that there is a lack of expertise in digital transformation in German companies. For this survey, 179 industrial companies in Germany were questioned on behalf of the management consultancy Staufen.

Almost eight out of ten German industrial companies admit that their managers' qualifications are lagging behind developments in Industry 4.0.

"Every company needs a person responsible for Industry 4.0 in the sense of a Chief Digital Officer"

says Staufen board member Martin Haas.

"But it's not just about technical knowledge. The corresponding management know-how is at least as important. Top managers need to focus on how they can anchor the readiness for digital change in the minds of their employees."

And this is where companies are still lacking, as the study shows. For example, 77 percent of those surveyed admitted that their managers are not sufficiently qualified for Industry 4.0.

More than two thirds of all companies have not yet or have only just begun to adapt their corporate mission statement and management guidelines to future requirements. In addition, the majority of companies have not yet aligned the selection and development of their top managers with the smart factory.