Digitization - A megatrend with consequences

Each megatrend represents an enormous technological change that has created new markets and radically changed the rules of the game within the industry.

This long-term economic development had its starting point in the invention of the steam engine, which made industrialization possible.

The current milestone is the peak phase of information technology with the spread of the Internet through to the ongoing digitalization of the economy and customer behaviour.

The resulting technological developments open up completely new sales and marketing opportunities. Numerous optimization potentials can be identified, especially for customer relationship management.

As a result, more and more sectors and formerly analogue industries are coming to the realization that the future of a company can only be secured by consistently digitizing all business processes and enabling digital products and services across all sales channels.

Trade as a warning example

On the one hand, fast-growing companies such as Amazon have emerged in the retail sector, while on the other, established companies are currently losing their market position. Amazon and other successful e-commerce retailers have understood the change.

The decades-old core competencies of traditional retail, the shopping experience and customer wishes, have been replaced by the analysis and evaluation of customers' online behavior.

In this way, even with a large number of customers, individual customers are only offered what they are interested in.

With its network infrastructure, the telecommunications industry forms the backbone of digitalization. However, if it is to be more than just a cooperation partner for innovations in the future, it must use its good prerequisites more proactively.

It is important not only to see yourself as an infrastructure provider, but also to differentiate your own services through trends such as the Internet of Things and Big Data and to maintain direct customer contact.

For the future, telecommunications companies should also focus on digital services that are initially outside their own business environment, but in which they can nevertheless contribute their core competencies.

Banks become databases

The financial services sector is also facing a massive process of change. New players such as PayPal (mobile payment), Payeleven (mobile banking) and direct banks have been on the market for years in some cases and will soon be confronting the established banks, particularly in the area of payment transaction processing.

Banks must also pay attention to the increasing online affinity of customers when designing their customer communication. This not only has an impact on the IT infrastructure and the connection of new communication channels, but also fundamentally on the business model.

Banks should not ignore the fact that customers will be less willing to visit a branch in the future.

Conclusion

Technology-driven innovations will not only come from the technology sector. Companies from the above-mentioned sectors that missed out on the ride on the first wave of the digital revolution have the opportunity to learn from other companies.

There are three decisive factors here. Firstly, an analytical infrastructure must be established to ensure a suitable database. Secondly, all internal and external processes should be digitalized and the services for direct customer contact simplified as a result.

Thirdly, the organizational prerequisites for implementing a comprehensive digital strategy should also be created.