With AI and IoT Through the Crisis
July 13, 2020
The digitization of the industry has been the central theme of the Hannover Messe for years. If the #HM20 had not had to be postponed until next April, it would again have been an impressive show of the latest developments. But the Corona Pandemic changed everything. That is precisely why it is now worth asking how industrial companies are reacting to it and whether they are perhaps putting the brakes on digitalisation.
A current study by tech consult on behalf of Microsoft Germany shows: Almost one in five small and medium-sized industrial companies in Germany (18.9 percent) rate digital technologies as “more important than ever before”. They rely on artificial intelligence (AI) or the Internet of Things (IoT) to get through the crisis successfully or largely unscathed. A further 45.2 percent rate these technologies as “still important” for their companies because they were already of great importance before the pandemic.
However, 31.6 percent also state that technologies such as AI and IoT are “still of little importance” to them. It is noticeable that this thesis is particularly often put forward by micro enterprises with up to 20 employees (43.6 percent). Of the larger industrial companies with up to 400 employees, only 25.3 percent make this statement.
Securing liquidity high on the agenda
The study also shows that really all the companies surveyed are actively dealing with the consequences of the pandemic and how they can best manage this crisis. For the majority (56.6 percent), the focus is on “securing liquidity”. In addition, four out of ten of the industrial companies surveyed say they are focusing on “digitalizing their business processes” (41.8 percent) or “innovative product development” (39.8 percent). 21.9 percent also see the best future prospects in a “realignment of the business model”.
The study results show that COVID 19 does not slow down or even stop the digitalization of the industry. For many companies the following applies: The crisis drives their digitization processes and even makes them a decisive success factor. “The more digitally positioned the industrial companies are, the faster they will recover from the consequences of the shutdown”, commented Bitkom boss Achim Berg only recently on a survey of his industry association.
In May 2020, tech consult conducted a total of 196 online interviews with business decision-makers and IT experts from the industry for this survey, selected from a Germany-wide panel in accordance with ESOMAR certification.
