Even if the German economy consists largely of small and medium-sized companies, there are still many deficits compared to large corporations with regard to digitization. Although most SMEs now recognize the importance of a digitized company as an essential and absolutely necessary step, this area is not infrequently characterized by strong doubts. Why does digitization often fail in SMEs? It often fails due to the financial aspect in particular, where many small and medium-sized corporations consider digitizing internal processes to be too time-consuming and above all cost-intensive. This often results in situations like the one in the following graphic. In particular, the fact that digitization is not a sure-fire success causes many SMEs to shy away at first. The management levels of small and medium-sized companies are often afraid of the seemingly long-term and cost-technically difficult to calculate effort of digitization. As a result, many SMEs see themselves lagging behind…

I often go to network meetings and I am told that digitization is good at writing new rules. But which ones are they and how does that affect the strategy for new innovations in business models? I’ve been wondering this for some time and have observed some startups as well as my current innovation projects that I oversee for customers. I’ve made some exciting discoveries. Finding 1: Mass wins against class! With new business models it is generally important to win the market. Let’s look at delivery services like Lieferando, Foodora and co. as well as the e-scooters around Voi, Tier and Lime. The current providers are trying to conquer the market with an almost blatant force. Often the providers win with large corporations in the background or good investors. It often applies: Enter the market at a loss and persevere. Amazon also made a loss with books or Home24…

I have been working in IT services for more than 5 years and have always been advising B2B customers. I noticed that as consultants help customers introduce new approaches and digital processes on a daily basis, but our sales department often still works traditionally with tenders, letters and handshakes. In this article I would like to pursue the question: How can digitization support this too? Difference between B2B and B2C B2B and B2C sales differ significantly from one another. While in B2C there is often a high number of many customers with little turnover, it is the other way around in B2B. Furthermore, traditional channels such as posters, TV advertising etc. do not help. Even Facebook and Instagram hardly reach the decision-makers of the DAX companies. Another difference lies in the products. In B2C, these are often bought by the end consumer and are precisely tailored to their problem. The…