Almost 67% of Romania’s energy and utilities companies say they will not undergo transformations due to the digitization, while 33% say it will have a “big influence” upon the business, according to a study. At the same time, half of the energy companies surveyed say the profit and turnover will be influenced by a maximum of 5% by digitization, while the other half sees an influence of maximum 10-20%.

“The prospect of transition to the era of artificial intelligence ignites the imagination of business leaders, but the automation of the operational processes gives chills to employees. Digitization provides answers to company inefficiencies, but also causes many anxieties for the decision-makers about the evolution of the industry and their business model”, says expert Constantin Măgdălina.

Most utilities and energy companies are confident in digitization, but they do not have the knowledge to capitalize on this trend. Overall, 60% of companies have not made the digital transformation the central part of their business strategy. About 70% of companies have not given to a leader within the company’s leadership, the responsibility for the digital business development.

Almost 63% of the respondent companies say they have not capitalized on digitization, in order to have a competitive edge. About 55% say the main obstacle to digitization is that they do not have “digital” consumers.

But 46% admit the fact that cost reduction and process simplification are the benefits of integrating the digitization process. In order to find out the business leaders opinion about the digitization process, the Valoria company has conducted the Barometer of Digitization study of companies in Romania. This study studies the perceptions of managers and executives about the impact of digitization upon Romanian companies. The questionnaire, which received 329 responses, was applied between February 9th and April 11th, 2017.

Thus, the companies most strongly influenced by digitization are 80% of IT and 80% of media and advertising, followed by 75% of financial and banking services. The least influenced by digitization or not influenced at all industries in Romania are construction/real estate, food/agriculture and transport.

Autor: Bogdan Tudorache

Active in the economic and business press for the past 26 years, Bogdan graduated Law and then attended intensive courses in Economics and Business English. He went up to the position of editor-in-chief since 2006 and has provided management and editorial policy for numerous economic publications dedicated especially to the community of foreign investors in Romania. From 2003 to 2013 he was active mainly in the financial-banking sector. He started freelancing for Energynomics in 2013, notable for his advanced knowledge of markets, business communities and a mature editorial style, both in Romanian and English.