IT industry:
Digital edge drives success

The German and entire European economy is faced with a structural change of immense proportion, which embraces all sectors. The potential for added value in the wake of digital transformation is equally immense. A huge market has developed for tailored IT solutions in particular.

The Internet is ubiquitous. Not only laptops, tablets and smartphones are always online; large sections of our infrastructure have long been networked with the Internet to ensure our power and drinking water supply and traf c circulation. Digital systems help companies to collect, process and evaluate huge volumes of data on production processes, suppliers and customers. Thanks to artificial intelligence, production processes are aspiring to new automation heights. Networking shortens production times, speeds up innovation cycles and synchronises supply chains. The Internet of Things generates a host of new products and services in the process.

The country’s business associations and politicians are pushing ahead with change so as not to leave pioneering digitisation to the USA and Asia. According to a survey by management consultant Roland Berger and the Federation of German Industry, digitisation may generate additional added value potential of EUR 1.25 billion across Europe by 2025. Germany alone might therefore reap EUR 425 milliard from the digital transformation.
The market for customised and tailored IT solutions is huge, equalling the number of businesses of all kinds whose various processes need to be digitised. This holds opportunities for all IT providers – from global players like T-Systems GmbH, which develops solutions for the automotive industry, telecommunications, the banking sector, trade, services, media, energy and the manufacturing industry, public administration and the health system, to established SMEs and start-up companies.

Stuttgart region is one of Europe’s leading IT locations, which is also due to the fact that many outstanding industrial companies are headquartered here and that the demand for smart IT solutions is constantly rising in the key automotive and engi- neering industries. Based in Stuttgart, ELO Digital Office GmbH has successfully specialised in digital business process solutions for all sectors and areas and has become a market leader in the eld. Heidelberg Mobil International GmbH provides pro- fessional solutions for business requirements involving a spatial element. With their Deep MapTM technology, the Geo-IT experts have been setting the standard for location-based solutions since 1998. Bechtle AG has its headquarters in Neckarsulm and is Germany’s largest neutral IT system house, offering customers a seamless portfolio of IT infrastructure and operation products as a one-stop shop.