You might have read the article with this title in the daily newspaper ‘Kurier’ on the 7^th December 2020. Or perhaps you have read one of the many other articles that blame the Corona crisis for the enormous leap in digitalisation. But did a global pandemic really have to emerge before such progress could be made within companies? Or did that progress exist anyway?

All too often one can hear in public discussions that Austrian companies are not fit enough concerning digitalisation. Firstly, I would like to mention which business processes can be digitalised at all. I will tell you one example that shows the role of the world-wide pandemic for digitalisation in companies pretty good.

Special processes for a special software

I am currently working on a project where an industrial company needs a special software for programming a manufacturing machine. Of course, this software will automate or digitalise activities that are up to now done by human beings with manual programming. The ordering process of this software is impossible to digitalise. It is simply impossible to order the software on a web portal and download it. The task alone (to describe the desired software) would make every shop face an unsolvable assignment. Once the software is delivered, it has to be installed and people have to be trained – that is essential. Online-training is a good possibility, if one does not have any other opportunities, just like now. However, in my own experience once travelling starts again, personal contact will not be bettered.

Résumé: parts of processes are automatable – digitalisation is nothing new

It is partly true because the pandemic actually partly automated (thus digitalised) processes in many enterprises. Generally, this development is not new because the industry has made this progress steadily for more than 150 years. Therefore, the hype around digitalisation is understandable for me. Let us let the companies continue to improve their products and processes incrementally and automate them completely or partly. Thus, digitalisation will come on its own.

How do you feel about digitalisation? Write me at gerhard@pramhas.eu or use one of the other contact possibilities.