ZAGREB, April 12, 2019 - As many as 59% of Croatian companies think that the state of digitisation of the national economy is poor or very poor, a survey showed on Thursday.
The survey of the digital readiness of Croatian companies was carried out by the Apsolon business consulting firm, previously called Sense Consulting. It was conducted on a sample of 300 companies, including 65 large companies with over 250 employees and 235 medium-sized companies with between 50 and 249 employees, operating in different regions and industrial sectors.
The survey found that as few as 15% of Croatian companies have developed a digital transformation strategy, only 17% think they are completely ready for changes the digital transformation will bring, and 29.7% said that digital transformation is at the top of their list of priorities.
As many as 59% of the companies polled said that the state of digitisation of the Croatian economy is poor (47%) or very poor (12%), with large companies being more critical in their assessment.
On the scale of digital readiness, the Croatian economy was given a grade of 2 out of 5.
Apsolon's chief partner Vedran Antoljak said that the results of the survey were backed by the European Union's Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI), which included Croatia among less successful countries, ranking it 22nd of the 28 EU member states.
"One of the objectives of our survey is to use the results to improve the digital readiness of Croatian companies and of the economy as a whole. This can be achieved, among other things, by adjusting the regulatory framework to the contemporary digital age and introducing digitisation into industrial sectors," Antoljak said.
A comparison of the results of the survey for Croatia and a similar survey for Germany shows that only 4.5% of Croatian companies recognised the importance of digital transformation, as against 35% in Germany.
Only 9% of Croatian companies think that their employees are ready for this process, while in Germany 42% think so.
On the other hand, as many as 77% of Croatian companies said they are well-prepared for digital transformation, compared to 35% of German companies. "Considering economic circumstances, the Croatian estimate seems very optimistic," Apsolon said.
Apsolon noted that its international experience shows that companies that have undergone digital transformation have 35% higher revenues, while employee motivation and productivity is up to 40% higher.
More news about Croatia’s economy can be found in the Business section.
