83% of B2B companies to increase digitalization budget

In order to meet expectations of customers, B2B manufacturers are planning to accelerate their digital transformation this year. At least 83 percent of them will increase their budget for investments into digital business strategies. In doing so, they hope to tap into new revenue streams.

These findings come from the survey report commissioned by Intershop and Evident, carried out by Copperberg with more than 50 European B2B manufacturers with a turnover of at least 250 million euros. B2B manufacturers are willing to invest in digitalization. According to 41 percent of respondents, this is due to the need to expand and tap into new revenue streams.

‘41% of respondents need to expand and tap into new revenue streams.’

Manufacturers also feel the need to create new business models (24 percent), due to the global shift to digital solutions. Additionally, 19 percent want to improve productivity, revenue or cost reduction with the implementation of digital tools.

Investing in digitalization

The fact that these B2B companies are willing to invest in digitalization becomes apparent when looking at their budget for investments into digital business strategies. At least 83 percent of manufacturers will increase their budget up to 20 percent this year. A smaller group will maintain the same budget as last year (15 percent), while 2 percent of manufacturers will decrease their budget with 1 to 20 percent.

‘24% of B2B manufacturers want to become market leaders with their digital business strategies.’

At least 71 percent of the respondents said their organizations are ambitious to take their digitalization to the next level in 2022. Of that group, 24 percent want to become market leaders with their digital business strategies.

Digital maturity

Most of the leading organizations have a digital maturity level needed to achieve those goals. At least 44 percent think their digital tools are on par with competitors, while 31 percent are already ahead and 2 percent say they are far ahead.

‘Manufacturers need to invest in technologies to optimize their B2B customer experience.’

“The answers underscore the need for manufacturers to invest in appropriate technologies and ramp up human resources to further optimize the B2B customer experience and compete globally over the long term”, emphasizes Lisa Hellqvist, Managing Director of Copperberg.

Common ecommerce solutions

Manufacturers are already using solutions to digitalize their company. Currently, 58 percent of respondents are using ecommerce solutions. A commonly used tool is Electronic Data Interchange (59 percent of respondents use it), while digital marketing tools to generate more leads and sales are also commonly used (59 percent).

To improve their digital strategy, most respondents indicate that they are looking at tools geared towards simplifying the sales process for the organization and its customers. Configure-price-quote (CPQ) systems to sell complex products and digital customer portals with self-service functions are solutions that many companies are looking into (both 36 percent). Data platforms were also commonly mentioned (37 percent) as a solution to help the online sales process become more personalized and data-driven.

‘Information should be streamlined and transparent, which ecommerce is a catalyst for.’

“As customers’ buying preferences shift toward outcomes over products, service is becoming a critical piece in the revenue model for businesses. The customer will seek information online and also expect inventory and parts to be fully available; the information should be streamlined and transparent, which ecommerce is a catalyst for”, said Lisa Hellqvist of Copperberg in the report.