Brussels, 05/11/2015 (Agence Europe) - Companies are expressing a number of concerns about operating in a digitalised economy. This was revealed in a survey carried out by Coleman Parkes Research at the request of the Ricoh Europe technology group (IT services, office imaging equipment, etc.).
The Digital Market: Hope or Hype? survey illustrates that 92% of the companies questioned are not prepared for the introduction of the digital single market and a quarter of them do not see any advantages in introducing such a market.
Methodology. The survey took place in July 2015 and used a sample of 1,360 participants chosen from eight vertical sectors such as education, the legal sector, energy, energy providers, health, public services, retail, manufacturing and financial services. Participants came from 16 different member states: United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Poland, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Portugal, Austria and Hungary.
The results. According to British consultants, Coleman Parkes Research, only half of the companies questioned (51%) had heard anything about the digital single market strategy the European Commission presented in May (see EUROPE 11309). According to the study, the countries with the least knowledge about this new roadmap are the Nordic countries (28%), Belgium and Luxembourg (29%) and Portugal (30%). The survey highlights the fact that the companies questioned displayed little enthusiasm about creating such a market: only 8% say that they are “ready to adopt the digital single market”. 24% of them see no advantage in setting up a digital single market. Many of them are concerned about the impact this would have on themselves: 40% say that they are not prepared enough to tackle the competition a single digital market would induce and 37% are afraid of the financial consequences that this would cause. A third of them also think that this market will simply create more regulation. The survey is accessible at: http://thoughtleadership.ricoh-europe.com/befr . (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)