SMEs lagging behind in digitisation
For small and medium-sized companies in Switzerland, digitalization begins at most with the customer relationship. According to a study by Ernst & Young, the transformation within the company is only just beginning.
For Swiss small and medium-sized enterprises, digital technology plays a primary role in customer relations. Contact with consumers takes place wholly or partly electronically, said 68 percent of the 700 companies surveyed. The result comes from a representative survey by the consulting firm Ernst & Young.
Back Office is lagging behind
According to Marcus Rübsamen, Partner Advisory Services, companies mainly see digital technologies as tools to reach their goals faster. This does not go far enough. "But digitalization has the potential to fundamentally change business models," he says. Interaction with consumers via the new media is likely to be the first means of reacting to the digital transformation across all industries.
Thus, investments in the customer interface are also a priority for Swiss banks, while the back office is still working as it was decades ago. However, the "Banking Barometer" by Ernst & Young also showed that financial institutions are working on their business models.
Upcoming investments
Swiss SMEs already consider the importance of technology for their business model to be relatively high. Almost one in two companies (45 percent) considers computers and the Internet to be of medium to very great importance. In the next five years, the importance will increase even more, say 64 percent.
There are no limiting factors for investment in digitisation Mostly there are no limiting factors for investment in digitisation
However, the respondents do not know how the digital journey will continue for Swiss SMEs. For 77 percent, there are no fundamental obstacles to investment in digital technologies. Only around 7 percent each lack money, know-how or personnel.
"It is of central importance for Switzerland as a business location that small and medium-sized companies deal with digitization more intensively and more quickly. Although the adjustments are likely to cost jobs on the one hand, they will also create many new jobs, albeit different ones, on the other," says Bruno Chiomento, Country Managing Partner of Ernst & Young.
You can find out more about digital technologies and their impact on companies at http://www.ey.com
