There is no end in sight to the Corona pandemic, and this is also leading to declining investments in the IT sector. Against this background, the German-speaking SAP User Group e.V. (DSAG) conducted a member survey to take a closer look at the current situation in the DACH region.
As it did last year, DSAG surveyed its members on the state of digitization in the "Corona Year" 2020. The online survey from the summer of this year confirms a picture that runs through almost all industries: 74 percent of respondents said that revenue was declining or declining sharply. Only 19 percent perceived no change in sales. 7 percent even recorded increasing or strongly increasing sales. Although IT budgets are shrinking in some cases, the crisis is also providing impetus for the perception of digitization gaps.
"The digitization train is moving, companies have recognized how important the topic is and are making progress. At the same time, however, they are operating in a field of tension consisting of declining sales, massively shrinking IT budgets and, at the same time, higher requirements due to digitization," says Marco Lenck, Chairman of the Board of DSAG.
Here's a simple example: If employees from sales and purchasing suddenly no longer work in the office, but in their own homes, then they inevitably need to have digital access to their documents. If paper processes still exist, this can quickly become difficult. Invoice processing in particular comes under scrutiny, because invoices that are approved too late mean additional costs and possibly the loss of cash discounts. Outgoing orders must also be viewed critically. In the worst case, lengthy processing times lead to downtime in other departments.
Processes. Simple. Better.
Less money, but better results - can that work? At this point, I would like to repeat a somewhat worn-out, but no less correct piece of wisdom: Crises offer opportunities. Or to put it more flippantly: Necessity is the mother of invention. Because with a smaller budget, even decision-makers in rather rigid corporate structures come to the conclusion that the efficiency screw could still be turned.
72 percent of respondents answered the question about the greatest need for action due to the pandemic with regard to digitization in the SAP context with "increasing the efficiency of existing processes". By comparison, in the DSAG Annual Congress Survey 2019, only 62 percent of respondents named "increasing efficiency" as the area with the greatest impact due to digital transformation.
From CSK's point of view, both initially controversial aspects - lower budget and higher requirements - can be excellently reconciled if one thinks the cost-benefit calculation one step further. As process consultants, we help our customers in advance to untangle historically grown processes. Subsequently, we use our agile VIROCK implementation method at SAP Solutions for the Purchase2Pay and Order2Cash areas within a short time. The complete digitization of the process chains in turn saves time and costs.
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Any questions? Gladly! You can reach our managing director Stephan Kaup at stephan.kaup@consult-sk.de or under +49 571 78343510
