Digitalization in Romanian companies

Digitalization is an increasing trend in the Romanian business environment, as well as abroad.

In this context, Beck et al. Services together with MKOR Consulting conducted a market study on the current state of digitalization initiatives in Romanian companies.

In the study, we asked the experts directly involved in such projects what are the main challenges encountered in their current activity and what digitalization solutions they use to address these challenges.

The benefits of digitalization solutions

Companies acknowledge the positive impact of implementing digitalization solutions.

The main advantages concern both operational and financial aspects, as well as the strategic dimension through:

Streamlined decision-making
High predictability
Scaling possibilities
Internal traceability

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The most popular digitalization products and services

Experts are familiar with the main options for digitalization products and services available to companies, regardless of their field of activity.

However, there is a discrepancy between the awareness level and the actual usage rate of the listed digitalization solutions.

Thus, although popular, technologies such as Blockchain, RPA, VR or AR are less used. And the lack of specialized human resources, the large initial investment or the limited options in terms of suppliers may account for the lower adoption rate of these technologies.

The main challenges in the current activity that underline the need for digitalization

Romanian companies face a series of challenges regarding processes and workflows, document management, data management, human resources or decision making.

At the organizational level, the most common bottlenecks can occur due to:

repetitive work
workload, especially manual
missing or unclear procedures
high volume of documents
large volume of data collected and unprocessed
human resource deficit
lack of digital skills
regulations in the field
hierarchical decision-making process
lack of financial resources

In addition, the pandemic brought new challenges for half of the companies participating in the study.

The adopted solution: priority implementation of digital optimization projects (in the context of a decrease in business volume).

In almost a third of cases, however, the pace of adopting digitalization solutions has slowed down, due to IT budget cuts during the pandemic.

The initiative for digitalization and the decision-making process in companies

The proposals for implementing digitalization solutions start from the bottom up: from front-office staff to department managers or local management, in the case of companies with an international presence.

85% of experts make decisions together with someone else
2 people, on average, make decisions in terms of digitalization

Employee technical skills are a key factor in the successful implementation of digitalization initiatives, regardless of the area of application.

Discover for free the main study results in the whitepaper "Digitalization in Romanian companies"

1 in 2 companies are currently carrying out digitalization projects

Outsourcing of digitization projects is a fact. In order to develop or implement digitalization solutions, the expertise of external suppliers is preferred either partially or entirely.

The lack of capacity to fully implement digitalization as an internal process (including in the case of IT companies) indicates the complexity of this process in terms of expertise and resources required.

Metrics (KPIs) to assess the impact of digitalization within companies

There is a constant concern at company level to evaluate the efficiency of investments in digitalization solutions (developed internally and purchased externally).

The impact of digitalization projects in turnover can exceed 30%

Even if they do not directly calculate the financial performance of investments in digitalization, companies monitor specific KPIs in terms of:

processes (workload / documents, process duration, response times, process traceability, etc.)
resources (employees, infrastructure, customers)

The success of digitalization projects in Romanian companies

Digitization is an opportunity for the Romanian business environment, but the successful implementation of digitalization solutions is conditioned by a series of measures and resources.

The most relevant resources for the success of digitalization initiatives are:

Human resources
Financial resources

The main barriers to the digitalization of Romanian companies

Employee reluctance to change is the main barrier to digitalization.

Beyond the lack of digital knowledge and skills, the reluctance to adopt new technologies is influenced by the fear of employees that they will lose their jobs.

Therefore, the company’s leadership plays an important role in ensuring the availability of these key resources and the strategic approach to digitalization.

The digital maturity of Romanian companies

Developing a digital ecosystem with impact on the entire company is associated with a strategic approach to the digitalization projects (digital mindset) and an increase in the budgets allocated to these initiatives.

Digital maturity is the result of:

A sustained effort (implementation, development, upgrading) over long periods of time (between 2,5 and 25 years)
Constant investments (from 2.000 euro to 10 million euro)

Additionally, a more advanced degree of digitization requires the acquisition of expertise and resources needed to internally develop digitalization solutions tailored to specific business needs (centers of excellence in digitalization, dedicated laboratories).