Digital growth brakes

In the "Digital Transformation 2015" study, the Hamburg-based consultancies DGgroup and Bergert E-Search + Consulting surveyed almost 500 board members and managing directors.

What barriers to growth do companies encounter in digital organizational development and what factors are important for digital success?

"A clearly communicated digital vision and strategy drives the success of a company online, but almost every second company lacks both a guideline and a communication and coaching concept that gives employees orientation"

says Gabriele Bergert, Managing Director of Bergert E-Search + Consulting.

Olaf Rotax, Managing Director of DGgroup, adds:

"In 2015, two thirds of all companies still only have very limited digital expertise thanks to a small number of employees. A physicist would say that there is a lack of critical mass for ignition."

Making digitalization a top priority

According to the study, 90 percent of companies have recently invested in IT systems and new online tools. However, the topic of the Internet and digitalization has not reached the boardroom everywhere: 49 percent of respondents state that online business is the responsibility of individual departments or middle management levels.

For 83% of respondents, online technologies are changing IT, sales and marketing. However, important interface functions such as logistics or purchasing are not included in the transformation.

This means that opportunities to interlink processes, make savings, offer new services and generate revenue remain untapped.

According to the study, five phases of digital transformation can be observed in companies, along which the depth of integration of online technologies and the networking of departments increase.

However, this development comes up against a natural barrier to growth if it is not expressly declared to be a top priority and a task for all divisions of a company.

Growing online sales and greater efficiency are achieved by those companies that have set up their own digital teams after taking their first steps online and, above all, have developed a comprehensive digital strategy and communicated it across all departments.

Five hurdles to digital transformation

• Digital has only reached top management in just under half of all companies.
• Two thirds of all companies only have very limited digital expertise thanks to a small number of employees.
• Almost half of the companies do not have a clear and communicated digital vision and strategy.
• Despite the increasing pace of change in the market, companies' willingness to invest in digital is decreasing.
• The development of an agile, networked mindset is seen as the biggest hurdle to digital transformation.