During 2021, Spanish companies have made progress in consolidating their digital models, although progress has been less compared to 2020. Already in 2022, around 7 out of 10 companies have increased their budgets for digitization in 2022. This follows from the study ‘Digital Priorities 2022’ that has just been published by Multiplica, a consulting firm that designs and executes digitization strategies.
This study has been based on a survey in which 136 companies from different sectors have participated, mainly from Retail/eCommerce, Financial Services, Insurance, Health, Travel, Mass Consumption, Telecommunications and Education, located in Spain, Mexico, Chile, Argentina, Colombia, Peru and Ecuador.
At a general level, the data from all countries indicates that the good results that companies obtain from their digital channels are an incentive to continue investing in their digital strategies. 82% of them have increased revenue from digital channels by more than 20% in the last year. Even 6% of these companies have registered an increase of more than 80%, and 30% have achieved growth of more than 50%. 33% of the companies have achieved a growth of more than 20% of their turnover through this channel, while a small percentage of 13% have registered an increase of less than 20%.
If we look at the budget forecast for 2022 , 60% of the companies that have participated in the survey say that they are increasing their budget to develop their digital strategy. 20% confess that they remain the same, while only a small 7% admit that they will allocate less money for this purpose.
Main investment areas
In 2021, the areas of greatest progress have been the generation of traffic to digital channels, the development of digital analytics capabilities, migrations to the cloud, process automation, and investment in social media channels.
But in 2022, according to the study by Multiplica on digital priorities, the areas of digital investment will increase to 17. According to the results of the survey, the greatest emphasis for 2022 is on increasing digital conversion ratios and getting more knowledge understanding of its customers through the adoption of analytics solutions. Both issues are mentioned by 59% of the companies that have participated in the report.
Next, companies cite running automated marketing campaigns (58%), while 52% rank customer experience personalization, customer experience (CX) research, and driving action on social platforms at the priority list.
Companies will also continue to invest in the development of omnichannel strategies (51%), in the implementation of artificial intelligence in their processes and services (45%), and in launching new mobile digital products (44%).
Strategic decisions based on data
In the top 10 positions it also appears as one of the digital priorities to accelerate strategies to achieve a “data-driven mindset”. This is, according to research by Multiplica , an investment area for 42% of organizations, and at the same time a challenge, because this concept goes far beyond obtaining data or implementing a good digital analytics strategy.
“Generating a clear data strategy aimed at helping to get to know the user in depth from a qualitative and quantitative point of view and ensuring that the strategy is aligned and contributes greatly to the company’s major objectives is the key for them to start making strategic decisions. . data-driven,” the report explains.
The other priorities are investing in Inbound Marketing (40%), automating internal processes with employees (38%), implementing First Party Data strategies (37%), having the capabilities to identify the value of the life cycle of clients (31%) , create chatbots or virtual assistants and contract cloud services (in both cases, with 26%). Finally, we find the impulse to the commercialization of products in marketplaces (25%).
Digital priorities by sectors
The document also identifies what the objectives of the main sectors will be. In Retail/eCommerce, the most important thing is digitization and data intelligence as an opportunity to build customer loyalty. In the financial services sector, the priority is to digitize services to reduce operating costs and improve time-to-market, just as telecommunications companies seek to reduce service costs.
Insurers, for their part, intend to improve customer service and increase their digital business, and the health sector, to optimize hybrid commercial experiences (physical and digital). In Travel, the goal is to advance digital experiences through the use of new technologies.
In FMCG, the priority is to improve the shopping experience through innovation and technology, and in Education, to evolve the digital experience of students.
