The COVID-19 pande­mic has forced many small and midsize busi­nesses to adopt new, digi­tal ways to reach their custo­mers — over­night, so to speak — with success. Targe­ted digi­tiza­tion measu­res have played a key role in secu­ring liveli­hoods and incre­asing custo­mer loyalty. Howe­ver, some compa­nies find them­sel­ves at a cross­roads when it comes to digi­tiza­tion: They lack capi­tal, know-how, the neces­sary resour­ces and a clear perspec­tive. A strong finan­cial inves­tor with both the finan­cial resour­ces and many years of expe­ri­ence in digi­tiz­ing small and medium-sized compa­nies across various indus­tries can be the solu­tion here.

The vast majo­rity of small and medium-sized enter­pri­ses, regard­less of the indus­try, see the oppor­tu­ni­ties offe­red by digi­tiza­tion and the added value it provi­des for their busi­ness — from cost savings to opti­mi­zed proces­ses and grea­ter trans­pa­rency to compe­ti­tive advan­ta­ges and more effec­tive ways of acqui­ring new custo­mers. So much for the theory. In prac­tice, invest­ments increase only extre­mely modera­tely and for many manage­ment teams digi­tiza­tion often remains a closed book. There is often a lack of under­stan­ding that digi­tiza­tion means much more than just the use of modern tech­no­logy. In addi­tion, there is a lack of invest­ment power, know-how and resour­ces to formu­late a suita­ble digi­tal stra­tegy and imple­ment it accordingly.