If you’ve been keeping up with the topic of digitization in Germany, authors have often come to the conclusion that the first half has been lost. Depending on its degree of optimism, analysis suggests either that there is still hope for the second half, or, unfortunately, that our chances of winning the game are probably “not very high anymore.” Industry 4.0 as a concept once again represents a very German way of approaching a pioneering trend. This makes it all the more important to regularly consult how the decision-makers in our country our assessing the progress and relevance of developments.
Decision-makers are failing to recognize current relevance
Michael Kroker, a well-known author from the Companies & Markets column of the German business news magazine Wirtschaftswoche, deals with the results of a study by IDG on behalf of the Japanese telecommunications company NTT in his blog “Kroker’s Look @ IT.” The question is essentially how German decision-makers assess the influence and relevance of the Internet of Things (IoT), a higher-level thinking approach to Industry 4.0. The study concludes that more than half of IT managers in the German-speaking world question the current relevance of the Internet of Things (IoT) for their company (55 percent). Their assessment of the situation over the next three years is quite different. Almost three quarters of respondents believe that the IoT will be important or very important to them (72 percent). So the question is: why are decision-makers so naïve as to let a red-hot topic overcook while they keep passing it around, saying “you take it, I’m not hungry yet.” The time to position yourself is now.
The services are there, but the will?
It is now essentially quite easy for companies of all sizes, be they big corporations, medium-sized companies or startups, to assemble their own digitization modules. The on-demand economy makes it possible, with the right partners, to buy modular IT-based services according to quantity and quality as the budgetary situation and additional resources of the company allow. This means that all those who are responsible can take the first steps towards digitization without directly throwing everything established overboard or forcing yourself to mercilessness. And taking this first step is important. Every long journey, after all, begins with a first step. But to get in line with the others waiting to bury their heads in the sand, that is probably the worst possible option. It’s been a long time since the big eat the little. Today, the fast eat the slow.
Further findings
Michael Kroker offers further results. The implementation of the IoT projects shows that many companies are still in the infant phases of tackling this issue. Only about 15 percent of respondents reported that they had implemented at least a single project in connection with the IoT in-company.
In six out of ten companies, something is planned in the short- or medium-term, or preparations have already begun (61 percent). Almost a quarter of companies do not plan to implement IoT projects at all (22 percent). Among the main reasons, many respondents expressed other priorities (46 percent), lack of relevance (26 percent) or a lacking business model (25 percent).
IDG Business Media surveyed a total of 369 (IT) security officers from companies in the DACH region, strategic (IT) decision-makers in the C-Level area and the expert areas (LoBs) as well as IT decision-makers and IT specialists from the IT sector.
Further information is available in an infographic on Kroker’s Look @ IT http://bit.ly/2iDGkn6
The victor can be guessed from the start! In this sense: DARZ wishes you a good start to the year 2017.