Digital maturity, skills availability and profitability are linked
A new report from the Swedish Agency for Growth Policy Analysis shows that there is a clear link between companies' digital maturity and their profitability and productivity.
Together with statisticians from the OECD, Growth Analysis has developed a special index that measures companies' digital maturity in three dimensions: access to IT skills, digital tools and the use of digital channels in customer relations. This index has then been applied to microdata on nearly 4,000 Swedish companies in various industries, enabling comparisons between industries, company sizes, regions and even internationally.
Swedish companies outperform OECD average
The report concludes that there is a clear correlation between digital maturity, profitability and productivity. The ICT sector is the most mature industry.
Furthermore, the report shows that:
- Companies in the Stockholm region on average are significantly more digitally mature than other regions.
- On average, Swedish companies are doing better than the OECD average.
However, it is noteworthy that the Swedish ICT sector is less mature than the ICT industries in other OECD countries.
Skills initiatives are needed
The report was presented at a lunch seminar on Monday, September 16, attended by, among others, Åsa Zetterberg, Director of the Swedish Association of IT & Telecom Companies. She noted that the report is proof that digital maturity is important for the competitiveness of companies, industries and Sweden as a whole, and that we need to invest even more in skills. She called for a new "PC reform" where employers, individuals and education providers together develop models for skills development among professionals. As inspiration, Åsa Zetterberg mentioned the Study Friday proposal, which IT&Telecom companies have developed together with, among others, Teknikföretagen, Sveriges Ingenjörer and the leading technical universities.
On the issue of the ICT industry's lower maturity relative to other OECD countries, Åsa Zetterberg said that this is of course something that the industry needs to study more closely, but it is not unlikely that this is related to the IT industry's shortage of IT experts, where a deficit of 70,000 is feared by 2022.
Digital maturity must be on the agenda
The seminar was also attended by Patricia Kempff, Head of Industrial Policy at Teknikföretagen, and Susanna Jansson, Smart Industry Officer at the Ministry of Enterprise and Innovation. All participants in the panel called for a deeper understanding, not only among policy makers but also among entrepreneurs in general, of the importance of digital maturity in various dimensions. All agreed on the importance of human capital - skills.
More information