Scientists are increasingly warning companies not to miss out on digitization. This harbors many dangers and in extreme cases can lead to the decline of enterprises. But there is still a long way to go.

There is no getting around digitization. Rather, the success of a company will soon depend more and more on the degree of digitization. At least that is the prevailing opinion among many academics and experts. Scientists like Michael ten Hompel are now talking about the digitization of everything and artificial intelligence (AI) in everything. “Logistics will be one of the first industries in which AI processes will become established on a massive scale,” says ten Hompel. Logistics can take advantage of its chance here and make a major decision on who will control the economy in this new digital world in the future.

He makes the possibilities and opportunities of the future clear. Many applications already point in the right direction. For example, the Technical Informationssysteme GmbH (TIS) already has a number of solutions to offer for driver and transport management. “We have already largely automated the driver’s license control and there are also digital applications for the departure control that the driver can use,” says Mike Ahlmann, sales expert at TIS in Bocholt. At the same time, he points out that shipment tracking at package level has been part of the software developer’s portfolio for over 25 years. “Today the barcode in particular allows the package to be tracked at any time,” says Ahlmann. But here, too, it is up to the user how exactly this should be done.

For the specialist, the way to the absolute digitization of all things remains very long. “Many companies have no basis for digitizing their business processes. There is often a lack of a correct database. Our work often begins there,” analyzes Ahlmann. This means that the will to digitize remains the so-called missing link in many logistics companies.

10 ways to more digitization in companies 

1. Digitization is a top priority
   
2. Check in which areas digitization and automation of business processes is beneficial
   
3. Include your employees right from the start
   
4. Analyze the data basis together
   
5. Define uniform data formats for all business processes
   
6. Create a specification sheet for your needs
   
7. Pay attention to possible media breaks and avoid them
   
8. Interfaces between the applications should be as easy to implement as possible
   
9. Look for possible external service providers
   
10. Implement your digitization together