At what point is the digitization of companies?

New technologies change the way we work, produce and do business. Ignoring this aspect or not keeping up with innovation means losing competitiveness in the market in a short time.

Digitalization is a great opportunity for all organizations. The opportunity to be able to provide a service or produce a good in a much more efficient and greatly reducing costs. You just have to adapt to the changing times, implementing new technologies and acquiring new skills.

The more digitalized the process, the higher the efficiency and effectiveness achievable. Benefits include reduced document search and search time, access to real-time information, and increased sustainability.

The situation in Italy: the DESI index

What is the state of digitalization in Italy? And what is the difference compared to other European countries?

These questions are needed to make informed decisions and understand the effective implementation of strategic national digitization plans.

To develop this knowledge, it is necessary to establish a measurable, solid, comprehensive and internationally shared indicator: the Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI). The latter has been used for some years to evaluate and compare the level of digitalization of the European Union countries.

The index is the synthesis of several indicators collected in 4 main categories:

• Human capital: measure the skills needed to take advantage of all the benefits offered by digital innovation;
• Connectivity: measures the development of broadband, its quality and the access made by the various stakeholders;
• Digital Technology Integration: measures the digitization of organizations and the use of online sales channels;
• Digital public services: measure the digitalization of the PA, with focus on eGovernment.

These four categories contain different indicators that are collected each year for all EU countries and weighted according to their importance. Last year’s DESI report used 33 indicators.

According to the latest edition of the Digitization of the Economy and Society Index (DESI), Italy ranks 18th among the 27 EU Member States. As the EU’s third largest economy, the progress it will make in the coming years in the digital transformation will be crucial to enable the EU to achieve its 2030 targets.

Italy is gaining ground and, if you look at the progress of its DESI score over the past five years, it is advancing at a very fast pace. In fact, digital issues have gained political attention, also thanks to the establishment of a ministry for Technological Innovation and the digital transition and the adoption of various key strategies.

With this in mind, digital transformation still faces several shortcomings that need to be addressed.

From the data it emerges that to climb the European Top Ten it is necessary to accelerate above all to the use of the Big Data, with the Artificial Intelligence applied to the business procedures.

It is useful to reflect on Big Data and understand their strategic role, considering that we hear about it every day several times.

Why is Big Data so important for digitalization?

Big data refers to large amounts of data that are collected, processed and analysed to extract useful information and gain a better understanding of certain phenomena. In Italy, as in many other countries, it has become increasingly important in various sectors.

One area of significant impact has been the economy and business. Organizations are increasingly using big data to analyse consumption patterns, monitor user behaviour, and make more informed business decisions. This can help identify business opportunities, improve operational efficiency and develop more targeted marketing campaigns.

In the healthcare sector, the use of Big Data is becoming increasingly important for medical research, disease management and healthcare. For example, health data analysis can enable healthcare professionals to identify patterns and trends, predict epidemics and improve health resource planning.

The Italian public sector is also using Big Data to improve the management of cities and public services. Local governments collect and analyse data from different sources, such as sensors, mobile phones and social media, to obtain useful information on urban mobility, environmental pollution, public safety and other aspects of citizens’ quality of life.

In order to promote the responsible use of Big Data in Italy, it is also necessary to invest in the training of experienced professionals in Data Analysis (thus improving human capital: (1 index in DESI) and in the creation of adequate technological infrastructure.

In addition, it is important to foster collaboration between the public, private and academic sectors to maximize the benefits of using big data and address associated challenges.

Overall, adequate Data Analysis (click here to read more) offers many opportunities to improve the efficiency, innovation and quality of life of citizens.

Knowing how to interpret and analyse the reality around us can help make it less complex and chaotic, the goal behind the entire process of digital innovation.

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