Digital Transformation in Greece 2020/2021 report: Accelerating change in a time of global crisis

In a year in which an unprecedented global crisis has marked our lives, the digital transformation is emerging as a protagonist of developments. Even if, in some cases, they were not sufficiently prepared, Greek companies rushed into a process of change facing the new challenges of the times. The research, published in the extensive report created by Found.ation in collaboration with EIT Digital (part of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology), for the fourth consecutive year, reveals interesting aspects of the business reality in the new circumstances.

The report entitled Digital Transformation in Greece 2020-2021 extensively analyzes the dimensions of the digital transformation in this particular conjuncture of the pandemic, while outlining the situation that prevails in Greece, both in the public and in the private sector. Also, examples of good practices are presented, regarding their strategic approach to digital transformation, by the Greek Tourism Confederation (SETE) and the company Kotsovolos (Dixons South-East Europe). The research involved experienced business executives, with the aim of examining whether companies and large organizations have adopted the digital transformation, and in what ways. Particular emphasis was placed, of course, on the challenges posed by the pandemic, on how it affected companies and how digitally prepared they were.

As the Minister of Digital Governance, Kyriakos Pierrakakis, notes in his opinion article in this year’s report: “The outbreak of the pandemic turned the country’s digital strategy into a necessity: travel and commute restrictions meant that we had to digitize services quickly and efficiently, thus “moving” them from counters to computers and smartphones. Because of our diligent planning, the coronavirus pandemic did not overturn our design. Instead, it acted as an accelerator of our digital transformation strategy.”

Some of the report’s highlights:

• The majority of companies surveyed recognize the importance of digital transformation, as 90.2% have either initiated or intend to activate a digital transformation roadmap immediately. In fact, they include a large part of their workforce in relevant projects (over 74% participate full time or dedicate a significant part of their time). 93.8% of respondents believe that the pandemic has accelerated the process of digital transformation in their companies. For yet another year, staff education and training in hard and soft skills is emerging as the most effective practice for implementing any digital transformation plan.
• Another interesting fact shows that, although, before the pandemic, 7 out of 10 Greek companies had only 25% of their workforce in remote work, after the outbreak of Covid-19, 6 out of 10 companies have more than 50 % of their employees working remotely. Remote work is here to stay and this is believed by 81.7% of respondents, however the picture is a little different when it comes to business readiness, as only 14.8% of companies were able to proceed with the change immediately, while 48.4% said they were quite ready to do so.
• In the always “sensitive” and “critical” part of data, 56.1% of respondents from Greek companies said that only partial data are collected or no data are collected at all, while of those who do it systematically 61% use the information to better understand the customer. However, 57.3% noted that they do not use behavioral data or anthropocentric design methodologies to improve the benefits to their users and 48.8% do not use any idea management process to take advantage of the creativity of their workforce.

You can download the full report (available in English only) here.