Roundtable: Digitization – Evolutionary leap or “Bullshit Bingo”?

Once again, digitization was in the focus of this year’s CeBIT. All the more, the question arises whether it is a technological evolutionary leap or just proverbial “bullshit bingo”.

Successful examples and possible opportunities for the technology sector were discussed by an expert round at the CeBIT press roundtable “Lighthouses of Digitization” on March 21st in Hanover. The following conclusion emerged: “Digitization takes place, although at different speeds.”

Successful examples for digitization

Can the hype fulfill expectations? According to the example by PAC analyst Andreas Zilch in the opening speech, it is important to understand digitization in the right way, so it will open a new chapter in IT history. One of the examples is the medium-sized producer Grohe and its program “Smart Grohe”. The sanitary specialist succeeded in building a new, direct channel to the crafts companies using QR-tagged packaging and thus collecting data on the location and type of the installed products at the end customer for the first time. This opens other distribution channels.

Apart from the success stories, many failed projects still exist. The main problem is that many companies spend huge amounts of money on the wrong measures.

Solution: Digitization as a combination of services and products

One of the characteristic developments of digitization is the growing importance of the data stocks and their analysis. The analytics industry makes a significant contribution to simplifying access to data sources of all kinds. In one breath with digitization, the cloud is also called the central base technology. “With Cloud Services, users now want more freedom in data transfer and storage”, says Süleyman Karaman, Managing Director of Colt Technology Services. “The networks need to be scalable to meet their needs, with the focus on pay-per-use.”

There are still hurdles and problems which have to be eliminated

Even though the examples give a positive light on the development of digitization, there are still numerous hurdles and problems that still hinder the implementation. In addition to the subject of laws and regulations, the difficulty of rethinking exists in the minds. Current business models of many companies are threatened by disruptive new competitors, who not only use digital technologies, but are also very agile in their decision-making processes. Sometimes a question of which cost center a digitization project belongs to wastes too much time instead of implementing an innovative idea in a timely manner, according to Karaman.

Companies need to understand not only the importance of data for future business opportunities, but also to use resources by linking employees together.

Conclusion

Thomas Endres, Presidium VOICE Federal Association of IT users, sums up the roundtable: “Digitization is the result of several parallel impulses, which is, on the one hand, the technology that opens up many possibilities today, for example artificial intelligence. And on the other hand, business models that organize a previously impossible, complex combination of business processes. “The consumer markets, as well as the B2B markets, are ready for very new things.”