The revenue and earnings growth of companies that have already implemented digitization strategies is almost 20% higher. And that’s more than you’d expect: One in four companies of the German SME sector can be considered a digital leader. These are two key findings of the scientific “ Digital Dividends in SMEs ” study. Experts from the consulting firm Mind Digital and the Rheinische Fachhochschule Cologne surveyed the decision makers of 54 medium-sized companies in detail on behalf of Telekom, AlixPartners and Iskander Business Partner with regard to this subject. There was a clear, positive connection between sales and profitability growth on the one hand and the degree of digitization on the other.

The study cites three factors as decisive for success: Start earlier, implement faster, and communicate more. However, many companies have concerns about this. In a study by Ernst & Young , decision makers identified high investment costs and a shortage of specialists as the biggest challenges. The Digital Dividends study, however, clearly demonstrates that it is worthwhile to overcome these challenges. It identifies a total of four groups of companies with different levels of digitization. The digital leaders achieve by far the highest sales and profit growth. The authors mention Heidelberger Druckmaschinen , the insulation, restoration and coating system manufacturer Sto , Stremmer Sand + Kies , Energy2Market , and BLG Logistics as examples. The full study is available for free download .