10 Startling Facts about Digitalization

Do you feel your company could become the next Kodak or Nokia? Do you really understand the context in which your company is running its business?

“The greatest danger in times of turbulence is not the turbulence; it is to act with yesterday’s logic” – Peter Drucker

Let me show you some overwhelming facts that perhaps you have not seen before (at least, not altogether in one piece of information):

People/Generations

meaning “your customers” who consume the products and services that your company sells

• Gen Z has an estimated $200B annual spending power by influencing how others spend (becoming a strong influence on how older generations will eventually adopt technology)
• Millennials (the first digital generation) will become the majority of the workforce around the world in 2020 (their salaries will be invested in buying your products and services)
• Gen Z will surpass Millennials as the largest generation in the workforce in 2030 (more potential customers – “pure digital”- for your product and services)
• Millennials and Gen Z account for 52% of the total population in 2018 (the largest segment of customers from a generation perspective)

Digitalization

meaning “current business context”

• Digital companies generate more revenues (almost 4% on average) compared to their typical peers in any given sectors
• Digitalization rewards companies (up to +7.3% on EBIT, and up to +11.2% on revenue)
• Companies who fall behind digitalization are punished (up to -6.0% on revenue, and up to -4.5% on profit growth)
• If you do really invest in innovation (one of the main levers for digitalization), Market Cap will grow +2.9 times faster and sales growth will thrive +2.6% faster than non-innovative companies
• Revenues are moving more and more towards digital business. The tipping point is estimated to be between 20% and 40% of the total revenue for a particular sector, although this percentage is different for every industry. No industry will escape from it.

Management

meaning “who runs the companies”

• 2 out of 3 CEOs anticipate a business model change in their companies within the next few years
• Only 8% of CEOs said their current business model would remain economically viable if their industry keeps digitizing at its current course and speed

So.. here is the important question (a.k.a the elephant in the room):

Why do people feel many corporate boards are behaving like in the picture below?

Please, share your insights below!