COVID-19 and the effects on companies over 50 employees: 87% suffered a reduction in turnover. 42% need to digitize to restart.
What is the level of digitization of Italian companies in 2020? And how much has the lockdown influenced to give a boost in terms of technological change? The research on digitization and savings reinvested in SAP Concur companies conducted in collaboration with CGIA of Mestre investigates the situation in Italy and finds that 9 out of 10 medium-large companies with more than 50 employees are digitized: the North leads the ranking with percentages 92%, but in the South it drops to 82%. Among the forms of digitization, the most widespread concern the connection of company areas (56,1%) and the automated management of relationships with personnel (38,6%). With reference to personnel management, 2 out of 3 companies use forms of smart working (66%), followed by the digitized management of personnel expense reports for 33,4% and company travel for 20,1%. In more than half (56,1%) of the companies interviewed, the company areas are digitally connected to each other. The most widespread form of corporate digitalization relates to the connection between the corporate functional areas and prevails in the North West of the country (6 out of 10 companies). Firms from the North East (56,8%) and the South (55,6%) follow, while those in central Italy (47,3%) are positioned at a clearer distance. The connection areas considered concern the production, purchasing, administrative / accounting, warehouse management sectors through software (Enterprise Resource Planning). 38,6% of companies use automated management procedures for relations with personnel: al northwest almost 1 in 2.
The second form of corporate digitalization, which concerns the automated management of relationships with personnel, is widespread in the North West of the country (48,4%). In the other territorial divisions this digitization stops below 35%. The forms of digitization of personnel are applied in the transmission of corporate communications, for requests for holidays and leave, in special software dedicated to employee management as well as for the implementation of smart working. In particular, telework is very widespread in North of the country with a peak in the North East where it was applied by more than 3 out of 4 companies, while in the South 1 out of 2 companies used it. Among the forms of automated personnel management, those of company travel and personnel expense reports are still little used. In particular, for the organization of business trips digitally, there is a 25,5% use in the North West with significantly lower rates for the other geographical areas. Integrated sales / marketing systems are more widespread in the North West. Just over 3 out of 10 companies use integrated sales / marketing systems with which customers are monitored and a relationship is established with them for the satisfaction of needs (CRM). Frequencies of use rose slightly in the North West (34,8%) and North East (31,5%) and were instead below the national figure in the South (27,2%) and Central Italy (26,1%). %). Purchases of goods and services with specific digital platforms: the Center prevails with 1 out of 3 companies using them. Just under 3 out of 10 companies use digital E-procurement platforms to purchase goods and services. In this form of digitization, Central Italy prevails (1 company out of 3), while in the other three territorial divisions there are frequencies slightly lower than the national figure (29%). In the Center and North of Italy, 2 out of 10 companies have “launched” themselves into E-Commerce. In our country, E-Commerce is starting to represent an important supplementary sales channel, for more than 2 out of 10 companies. There is, however, a certain territorial differentiation with the Center and the North which are above 21% and the South, which are still below 18%. But how satisfied are companies with the level of corporate digitalization? 85% of the sample is generally satisfied with their level of digitization but only 2 out of 10 are very satisfied, with relatively lower percentages in the North East (15,4%) than in Central Italy (22,8%). in the North West (21%) and in the South (20,5%). However, the perception of the level of digitalisation of businesses is at high thresholds. In 80% of cases, the estimated level of company digitalization exceeds 50% of the processes and in Central Italy as many as 86 out of 100 companies declare that they have more than 50% degree of digitalization of their business processes. What did the lockdown entail in terms of turnover and performance for Italian companies? In the three months of lockdown, 87% of companies with at least 50 employees suffered a reduction in turnover. More than 1 in 2 (52,7%) suffered losses of at least 30%, while 11,3% report not having encountered any. The reduction in turnover is more widespread in the North West (88,9%) and in the North East (85,8%), while in Central Italy there are 61% of companies with a decrease of at least 30% in turnover, followed by from companies in the North East (53,1%). But the COVID-19 emergency has certainly brought out the need to improve the level of digitization for 42% of companies. Compared to the digital needs arising from the health emergency, particularly high frequencies are noted in Central Italy (48,4%) and in the North East (44,8%), with percentages higher than the Italian average (42,2%). The companies in the North West are those where the needs have been less pressing (38,1%), a probable sign of a certain previous familiarity with digitization. Among the needs arising from the lockdown, telework dominates (64,3%), while E-Commerce (10,8%) and the automated management of relationships with personnel (8,1%) which is closely linked to forms working from home. Due to the closure of the borders, the digitized management of personnel expense reports (1,1%) and the implementation of travel booking tools (0,5%) take a back seat.
COVID-19 has brought to light an already widely known need, that of digitization, making it move from what was sometimes considered a "something more" to a key factor for the survival of businesses. "Fully integrated processes, especially with regard to corporate spending, are essential today"He comments Alessia Poletti, Senior Field Marketing Manager for Italy, Malta and Greece of SAP Concur.