Bitkom: Many craft businesses are lagging behind when it comes to digitalization

Digitization in the skilled trades remains a construction site, with high costs and a lack of expertise cited as the main reasons. E-mails and smartphones are part of everyday life in all companies. Messenger services are also used by 62%, 36% rely on online meetings and 28% work with platforms such as Slack or Microsoft Teams or have their own customer or employee portals. These are the findings of a recent survey by the industry association Bitkom.

The 500 or so skilled trades companies surveyed gave their status an average grade of 3, with just under one in ten companies even rating their own digitalization as poor. In more than half of the companies (54%), trainees help with digital tasks, while 44% use digital technologies specifically to recruit new trainees. 89% see digitalization as an opportunity, while only 6% see it as a risk.

Companies cite high investment costs (69%), concerns about data protection and IT security (96%) and a lack of digital skills among employees (58%) as the biggest hurdles. According to Bitkom CEO Bernhard Rohleder, it is paradoxical that many skilled trade companies complain about a lack of internet coverage, even though gigabit connections are available everywhere. There are also internal reservations: More than half fear surveillance or uneconomical processes "because nothing goes under the radar anymore".

One sticking point is the transparency that digital tools bring: Building Information Modeling (BIM) can be used to track which work has actually been carried out – this makes repairs easier, but makes non-transparent billing more difficult. New technologies such as drones are also changing work: many roofers inspect buildings without having to erect scaffolding or ladders and take their customers on a virtual flight over the roof, explained Rohleder.

While the cloud has long been used by more than half of tradespeople, artificial intelligence remains a marginal topic: only four percent use it. To date, AI has been used the most in production, IT, marketing, sales and management – in 26 to 45 percent of companies, depending on the area, according to the latest figures from the German Economic Institute (PDF).

According to the survey, more than 80 percent of skilled trade companies are not involved with AI. However, a third believe that AI will profoundly change business models. According to Rohleder, AI could already help to cushion the shortage of skilled workers, particularly in terms of communication, customer service and training.

(mack)