Forced digitization: If you don’t want to hear, you have to feel.

As a child, I was lively and eager to move and unwavering in exploring the laws of physics with my body. I didn’t believe anyone about what was possible or not possible. At some point, my mother gave up her admonishing words and commented dryly: “If you don’t want to hear, you have to feel.” And what did I feel. Even today, decades later, the scrapes and grazes are still very vivid memories. And I learned the hard way, but I learned from it.

(Reading time 5 minutes)

Forced digitization

When I was on a call with an old veteran of digitization on Tuesday, we were both amazed at how there is now an unprecedented awareness of the need for digitization everywhere. Never in our wildest dreams would we have imagined that it would be a virus that would indirectly help widespread digitalization achieve its final breakthrough. And the signs that this is actually happening are evident everywhere.

Survival of the fittest

The fact that the strongest always survive is a law that we as humans always try to override, but logically will not succeed. I think it is our humane duty to look after the weakest – but I also think it is naïve to think that we can override this effect. We must not forget that the immense success of our species, as with all other living beings, is also based to a large extent on this natural selection.

In the current crisis, we are being presented with it in the most brutal way possible: The virus is hitting the weakest the hardest. Among people, these are those who are ill and/or already at an advanced age.

The fittest = digitized

In the case of companies, you would think that these would be the ones that are in a bad economic position. And yes, it is always a bad thing to be in a poor economic state, to have little cash, low margins and so on. Business fitness is currently not THE distinguishing factor, but rather the general basis from which every company should operate.

In this crisis, however, being fit primarily means being digitized. It means having implemented digital processes and being able to operate your business digitally. The fact that digital and distance selling channels have been ignored, and in some cases demonized, is now taking its toll, especially on the many smaller businesses. Those that are only minimally positioned at the moment can at least continue to function to some extent.

Secondly, being fit in this crisis means being as agile as possible. Being fast pays off to the maximum. I am delighted by the many small stores in my region that are suddenly delivering to my home and opening up new ordering options. This is really great and deserves great praise. The only downer is that this often happens in the face of an existential emergency.

Often heard – never felt

I spent a good part of my life trying to convince business leaders to invest in digitalization. It was pretty depressing in the early years because, well, nobody wanted to listen. At some point, I thought to myself – much like my mother – if you don’t want to listen, you have to feel. And many of these companies, especially in the retail sector, have had to learn the hard way in recent years.

Anyone who thinks that I and others who are committed to digitalization are following the current developments with some kind of satisfaction is completely mistaken. I suffer with the people, because the damage that this lockdown is causing to society is immense. I don’t think we even understand the burden we are shouldering.

And to be honest, we in the digital sector have no idea about tough economic conditions anyway. Milk and honey have always flowed here. An end? Not in sight. More on that later.

Science and healthcare

What this crisis also impressively demonstrates is how outdated and out of date our scientific system of studies and publications is. When Christian Drosten talks in his podcast about study drafts on pre-press servers, which he also includes a little, but which would find little to no scientific acceptance because all review/publication processes take weeks, then this shows impressively how blatantly we are victims of a system that comes from an old time.

Anyone who has gathered the latest studies and information over the past few weeks and tried to keep up with the pace of developments will find that some decisions in Switzerland and Germany seem rather irrational. But we should be careful not to blame anyone, because the political representatives are relying on the scientists and the scientists are relying on their supposedly tried and tested system.

As a result, everyone does their best, but the end result is probably not the best for society because the scientific system cannot keep up the pace. This must be a lesson to us in science. Here, too, we need much more digitalization and a will and consensus for more agility. The number of cycles must be fundamentally increased, also for the sake of reducing costs.

Opportunity for the digital economy

I have spent quite a lot of time over the last two weeks assessing the situation for our companies and have often been asked how things are for us in the digital companies. I was always a little embarrassed to explain that not much has actually changed for us. Yes, the proportion of people working from home is now 100%. While the storm is raging outside, many things are largely continuing as before. In the short term, we are preparing for certain losses.

In the medium and long term, I think this crisis will give digitalization an enormous boost. The digital economy will benefit greatly, as it did after the financial crisis in 2009.

Scrapes and abrasions

We can only hope that society will be spared a long-lasting memory of the scratches and abrasions inflicted now: That we later see this as an opportunity to improve things and develop a positive relationship with them despite everything. We should be allowed to do so, because we have fallen here through no fault of our own.