Whether it’s business innovation, employee engagement or everyday productivity, technology promises to do it all. But amid the limitless possibilities, leaders can find themselves uncertain on the benefits of certain technologies, where to focus their investments and how to get their people on board with change.

That’s why we’ve published Are You Missing the Tech Train? - to shed light on which countries and sectors are accelerating ahead of others when it comes to tech, and to deliver advice for leaders who come up against transformation barriers.

The report presents the findings of a global survey that collected responses from more than 600 leaders from China, France, Germany, India, the UK and the US. Leaders were asked – among other matters – about the investments they were making, the benefits they expect and what typically slows implementation and investment.

“Our findings show strong forward momentum in regard to these five game-changing technologies. Overall, familiarity levels are high, leaders see the impact these technologies can have, and they have plans to increase investment. But there are areas of concern and certain countries and sectors pale in comparison with their counterparts.”

Guillaume Devaux
Partner, Head of Technology Sector

The five technologies in question were:

Illustrated with insight from Mazars experts, the report lifts the lid on the countries proving most familiar with the technologies and those most eager to invest and implement. It also uncovers which countries are falling behind, while offering practical advice to the C-suite determined to get more out of technology in the workplace.

Comparing countries, sectors and organisation sizes, the survey revealed:

• Leaders in China are the most familiar with the five technologies, followed (in order) by Germany, India, the US, France and lastly the UK

• Artificial Intelligence is the technology with which most people feel familiar

• China and India are the most likely to have implemented at least one of the technologies; France and the UK are the least likely

• ERP is the most implemented technology

• Tech adoption lags in the public sector – 50% of respondents working in the public sector said ‘nothing is happening’ with the five technologies

• More than half of respondents already spend over 25% of their IT budgets on a combination of the five technologies

• India is the country where respondents have the greatest appetite for increasing their budgets for the five technologies, while France and the UK spend the least of their IT budgets on the five technologies

• Cost savings, business model transformation and improvements in quality were the top three expected benefits of the five technologies

• Necessary investment resources, talent and skills, and market maturity were the top three barriers to increasing technological investment.

Although the report Are you missing the tech train? does not analyse the situation in Poland, during our exchanges with the clients we have observed some trends in development of the latest technologies. They are becoming more and more important in Polish business, however as a nation, we do not seem ready to take potential opportunities.

The level of digitisation of Polish companies is very low, and as far as it concerns the integration of digital technology and adaptation of e-commerce technologies, our country is also lagging behind other EU. In contrast, compared to other European countries, Poland takes a good position concerning the use of blockchain. Although it did not reach its full potential, blockchain is increasingly used in Poland as a platform optimising an upgrading business processes. It is used in the area of durable medium, loyalty programmes, services for company bodies, finally dematerialisation of shares.

Slowly but efficiently, Poland is realising the projects connected with implementation of the latest technologies of everyday use in the companies. Right now, the increase in the potential of using blockchain technology is already noticeable, I do believe that after overcoming financial barriers, investments in new technologies will increase, and IT graduates and those specialising in artificial intelligence, also those from Poland, will have more opportunities to use their knowledge in practice. All this can contribute to a dynamic business development in a new dimension in Poland.