The facts are clear: if 2020 was a turning point in the digitalisation of business, accelerating and highlighting the need for this transformation, which had already been sought years before with relative success, 2021 was the confirmation that the changes brought about by the pandemic are here to stay. This year 2022, as companies such as Telefónica understand, is the time for solutions.
As highlighted in LLYC’s recent Depp Digital Business Trends report, it is possible to affirm that giant steps have been taken in the acquisition of a digital mindset, which may favour, from now on, even more significant advances in the consolidation and globalization of the most advanced technologies in business, marketing and communication. In this context, some tools are already in place.
Tools that Help and Tools that will Help
Among the most important tools for the digitalisation of companies is Artificial Intelligence, AI, which provides the ability to look beyond, to understand the different realities of customers—or potential customers—and to provide a personalised response to their needs, thanks to the ability of this technology to analyse large volumes of data. It is a very important tool for defining business strategies, because it can help to assess them efficiently.
Among those that will help (in the future) will be something that is beginning to gain momentum: the metaverse. The pillars of the metaverse are supported by entrepreneurs, powerful investors and other actors, in a display reminiscent of the late ’90s, when the internet as we know it today was just starting.
Zuckerberg, the man behind Facebook (now Meta), is convinced that in a decade or so we will no longer be surfing the net as we have done so far, nor will we be looking at the internet on a screen. What Meta’s CEO says is that we will live inside the internet and this will have a unique implication for everyone, but especially for the business world, when by the year 2030 technological devices and networks will offer such definition that the metaverse and reality will be virtually indistinguishable.
Finally, one of the keys to digitalisation that cannot be ignored today, as a new ABB study on industrial transformation indicates, is sustainability.
An international survey of 765 decision-makers reveals that while 96% of them believe that digitisation is “key to sustainability”, only 35% have implemented solutions. But this is also changing; digitalisation and sustainability go hand in hand and feed each other to enhance the value of companies.
“Sustainability goals are increasingly becoming a key driver of a company’s business value and reputation, and IoT solutions are playing an increasingly important role in helping corporations operate safely, intelligently and sustainably”, said Peter Terwiesch, President of ABB’s Process Automation business area. “Unravelling the valuable information hidden in operational data is the key to enabling literally billions of better decisions across the industry and turning them into concrete actions, with significant gains in productivity, lower energy consumption and reduced environmental impact”.
Step by Step
In order to help digitalisation, not only for large companies and corporations, but also for the smaller ones that make up a large part of the country’s industrial network, Telefónica is offering a helping hand to SMEs with 40 solutions for their digitisation
In Spain, SMEs account for 99% of companies and generate 65% of employment and 61.4% of gross value added, excluding the public sector. The lurking health crisis and the arrival of European funds for digitalisation have accelerated a process that was already underway: the digital transformation of the entire business network.
In a scenario where it is estimated that SMEs that go digital can increase productivity by 25%, have more revenue, are more profitable and expand into new markets much faster, Telefónica has made a comprehensive proposal for technological transformation: Fusión Digital Pymes, which offers more than 40 IT solutions so that they can take advantage of the benefits of digitalisation, grow and be more productive.
In the opinion of Javier Vizcaíno, Director of the SMEs Business Unit at Telefónica España, “we are facing a paradigm shift driven by technology, a true digital revolution that should leave no one behind. Fusión Digital Pymes addresses this situation by improving the processes and infrastructure of SMEs to make them more profitable, competitive and efficient in terms of communications, security, cloud and digital workplace solutions”.
