Connect with us

International Circuit

Digital maturity helps companies to endure economic turbulence

Just as corporate Sweden was emerging from the pandemic, the country found itself in a serious economic situation, with increased overheads, bankruptcies and the highest inflation in 30 years – but some companies are coping better than others. For the fifth year in a row, Telia has ranked Swedish companies in terms of their digital maturity. The Telia Digital Index 2023 reveals that more digital businesses are better equipped to weather a crisis, as only 15 percent of ‘highly digital’ companies –identified on the basis of how they answered questions about their digital maturity and how they use digital tools – reported being hit hard by the current economic situation.

The fifth edition of the Telia Digital Index paid particular attention to how the prevailing global situation is affecting the pace of digitalization in Sweden, and the results show once again that a digital business fares better in a crisis than a company that has not made as much progress on its digital journey. The economic situation has hit ‘less digital’ companies with greater force, with 45 percent of these companies stating that the tough situation has affected them negatively, while only 15 percent of highly digital companies reported that they are experiencing the same effects.

Daniel Stark, business manager for small and medium-sized companies at Telia, says: “For many entrepreneurs, it’s probably a case of out of the frying pan and into the fire, with serious crises on several fronts. However, highly digital companies indicate that they have been affected to a lesser extent, perhaps because they are more robust thanks to their ability to take account of external factors before they result in negative consequences. The results from our index speak for themselves, suggesting that a company’s degree of digitalization determines how it fares in tough times. Less digital companies are in a precarious position.”

Overall, the digital maturity of Swedish companies has increased for the first time since 2021, with large and micro companies accounting for the largest increases. However, medium-sized companies have not managed to recover as successfully from the pandemic, the digital development of small companies has stagnated completely this year, and the maturity of one-person companies is even decreasing somewhat, albeit marginally.

Daniel Stark says: “Although digitalization has increased slightly, development is progressing at a leisurely pace and just over a quarter of Swedish companies are still considered ‘less digital’. In this year’s results, we also see a tendency towards a new digital divide between large and medium-sized companies, while the gap is larger than ever between micro and one-person companies. This is worrying to see in a time when Swedish companies cannot opt out of being digital and data-driven – it is not just a question of Sweden accelerating in the digitalization race, it is a question of survival.”

Savings, investments and security
The savings measures that Swedish companies and organizations have focused on in the past year include energy, travel and personnel, with highly digital companies being more proactive in this work. For example, 43 percent of highly digital companies have made energy savings as a result of the economic situation, compared to 30 percent of the less digital ones.

When it comes to IT security, concerns about intrusions are increasing, and as a company’s size and digital maturity increase, so do the number of reported intrusion attempts. Telia’s digital index shows that IT security tops both the investments made in the past year and the planned investments for the next two years, with the most digital companies having invested the most. Twenty-five percent of Swedish companies plan to invest in security, which is an increase of four percentage points from 2022. Other prioritized areas include mobile working methods and skills development linked to digitalization.

Daniel Stark concludes: “The fact that highly digital companies are more vulnerable is probably due to the fact that they are more exposed to cyber threats than other companies. Therefore, it is important that increased digitalization takes place in parallel with an increased investment in cyber security. I am pleased that security is the top priority in investment plans.”

CT Bureau

Click to comment

You must be logged in to post a comment Login

Leave a Reply

Copyright © 2024 Communications Today

error: Content is protected !!