Study Digital Transformation

For 90% of companies, Digital Transformation is extremely relevant.

Fact sheet: Study – Digital Transformation 03/2013 EN

Digital Transformation Relevant to 90% of companies

What goals are being pursued as part of Digital Transformation at present?

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With the help of innovative outsourcing solutions companies can develop the best strategies for Digital Transformation. Even today almost 90% of companies regard Digital Transformation im-portant or very important. This is the result of a current study commis-sioned by Swiss Post Solutions (SPS)1).

Increase investmentsTogether with the Institute for Strategy, Technology and Organisation (ISTO) at Munich University, SPS surveyed 115 decision-makers from companies in Ger-many, Austria and Switzerland on the topic of ever-increasing digitisation2). The results show that 45% of decision-makers sur-veyed want to increase or substantially increase their investments in Digital Transformation in the next three years. To a large extent this is independent of sector, company size or experience in this area to date.

Chief digital offi cers will control processesin all divisionsThe responsibility for these investments, according to around 30 % of those surveyed, will in future lie with the CDO, the chief digital offi cer. The new posi-tion of CDO will involve cross-departmental control of all Digital Transformation processes. A clear overall strategy as the biggest challenge for companies can thus be focussed on.

The most important goal is to increase effi ciencyFor 93% of the companies surveyed, «increasing pro-cess effi ciency» is the most important goal of digital transformation, followed by «saving working hours» with 89%, then «cost savings» and «ensuring fl exible access to data» with 80% each. Digital Transforma-tion is at present relatively seldom linked to goals that are focussed on the customer, like e.g. «Recognition and fulfi lment of customer requirements».

Fact sheet: Study – Digital Transformation 03/2013 EN 3

Innovative process solution for all company divisionsThe goals mentioned basically affect all company divisions. Therefore the differences between pro-cesses that take priority are relatively small. 69% of companies state they use Digital Transformation in cus tomer services. In fi nance and controlling pro-cesses the fi gure is 67% and in logistics and human resour ces departments it is 60% each. Marketing processes at present rank only in the bottom third. Nev-ertheless, over half of the companies surveyed employ Digital Transformation.

A clear overall strategy is the biggest challengeA clear overall strategy at present represents the big-gest and most decisive challenge for companies in im-plementing Digital Transformation. This is confi rmed by over 40% of those surveyed. Above all, to expand cross-departmental measures, a conclusive overall strategy, that smooths the path for successful digitisa-tion is prerequisite.Altogether, over half of the companies surveyed rate the cross-departmental expansion potential as high or very high. 40% state that at present Digital Transfor-mation features in only a small way or not at all from a cross-departmental perspective.

External and internal expertise is in great demand To implement Digital Transformation processes the advice of external specialists and internal expertise is sought-after. Around 70% of companies want to implement their plans with internal and external help. As far as this is concerned, there is little difference between individual sectors.By contrast, if you ask only board members, CEOs and area managers, a different picture emerges. Man-agement prefers purely internal implementation and favours a hybrid solution and outsourcing. Big com-panies with 10,000 or more employees regard 38 % outsourcing solutions as likely or very likely.

Future trend: The importance of the mobile channel is increasing but people cannot imagine work without paper-based processes The importance of smart phones, tablet PCs and other mobile end-devices will in future increase sig-nifi cantly. This is the opinion of around 70% of those surveyed. Companies are sceptical with regard to the question of whether all processes will become paperless in the future. Only half of decision-makers thought this was likely. Increasing data gathering through Digital Trans-formation is not seen as critical by around 80 % of those surveyed.

1) In this study, the term ‹digital transformation› means the introduction and further development of strategies, processes and company structures right up to the digitisation of business models. These changes should enable compa-nies and their employees to exploit the advantages of digital technologies with regard to cost benefi ts, speed, fl exibility, security and quality.

2) Period of online survey: 27 November 2012 to 13 December 2012. Scope of survey: ~1,000 companies written to in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

In which processes is Digital Transformation taking place at present?

How will you implement plans for Digital Transformation?

How high is the potential for cross-departmental Digital Transformation measures?

About Swiss Post Solutions (SPS) Swiss Post Solutions (SPS), a 100% subsidiary of Swiss Post, is a leading provider for business process solutions – both physical and digital. SPS enables hitherto physical processes and digital solutions to fuse together. Big benefi ts, innovative concepts and effi cient implemen-tation are the hallmarks of SPS whether with further development from enterprise resource planning (ERP) or customer relationship ma-nagement (CRM) systems – SPS supports all peripheries along the value creation chain. As a global service partner for sustainable optimisa-tion of all tasks relating to the handling of do-cuments and customer management, SPS is a quality leader bound by the stringent compli-ance standards of Swiss Post.

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