Regulatory obligations and the effects of the pandemic have widened the gap between already digitized companies, which in 2020 had stable or growing turnover, and traditional companies, which have struggled to ensure operational continuity for their activities. For almost half of the Italian companies the health crisis has given a strong impetus to digitization of B2b processes, about one in five has invested in digital solutions and the 38,5% plans to introduce tools for the Digital B2b, among which the solutions for theprocess automation (16%), Blockchain e Artificial Intelligence (13,8%) and tools to monitor the supply chain (13,1%).
To put it in black and white are the results of the research ofDigital B2b Observatory of the School of Management of the Politecnico di Milano, presented during the online conference “B2b: physically distant, digitally close”.
The electronic invoicing braked during the first lockdown, when the number of digital bills plummeted by 15%, but he recovered by closing the 2020 with 2 billion invoices, only the 4% cheaper than the 2019. In all regions, the number of invoices transmitted decreased compared to 2019, with Liguria (-39%), Emilia-Romagna (-21%) e Friuli-Venezia Giulia (-17%) which recorded the most significant decline. They remain at the top in terms of number of electronic invoices Lombardy (36%) e Lazio (21%), while among the sectors they lead the wholesale and retail trade (27.7%) and the utility (18,6%). Buildings, Well e instruction have increased by 5% the invoices sent, the manufacturing of the 3%, while the most distressed sectors were accommodation and catering (-40%), finance and insurance (-35%) and services of rental, business support and travel (-19%).
Me too’eCommerce B2b – the value of orders traded through digital tools between Italian companies – withstood the impact of the pandemic, reaching a value of 406 billion euros. In a year in which the B2b transactions have been reduced by 6%, eCommerce scored only one -1% and has increased by1% compared to 2019 its incidence on total trade B2b (2,500 billion euros), which has passed since 19% al 20%. The Largo completedo, l’automotive and the pharmaceutical are the most digitized sectors. On the other hand, digital transactions between Italian and foreign companies are valid 127 billion euros (-5%), the 29% of the foreign transaction B2b (434 billion), with the automotive sector as the first sector, followed by textiles-clothing and mechanics.
“The companies that had experienced regulatory compliance as an opportunity to digitize their processes were able to better cope with the emergency situation which, even in the B2b sector, had important impacts – he says Riccardo Mangiaracina, scientific director of the Digital B2b Observatory -. First of all, it accelerated the process of bringing companies closer to their customers by reducing the distance between successive levels of the supply chain, promoted a better use of data and greater process automation and amplified the need to develop more collaborative processes. This evolution did not translate into a growth in B2b eCommerce in 2020, but the perception of people and companies towards innovation has changed and most likely in the next few years we will see a strong growth in the pervasiveness of digital tools in business processes “.
“The health emergency has highlighted the importance of digital to ensure business continuity and remain competitive on the market – he declares Paola Olivares, director of the Digital B2b Observatory -. But he also stressed that initiatives launched only in response to the emergency or only for individual activities or processes have no impact on short-term economic performance. A full digital transformation requires time and a thorough review of processes “.
The digitization of B2b processes
For the 48,6% of Italian companies the emergency has prompted the projects of digitization of B2b processes. Almost one in four, the 23,8%, felt the need to invest in digital solutions, in particular for signature management (6,8%), for the digitization of internal processes (6,2%) and for the conservation of documents (5,5%). The 18,4% has already activated digitization initiatives during 2020, especially for the introduction of digital signatures (7,3%), tools for the exchange of electronic documents (6%), of software to support internal processes (5,4%) and tools for digital preservation (3,5%). Over the next two years the 38,5% of companies plan to invest in tools to digitize B2b processes. The Pnrr represents a great opportunity to make these investments: the 21% gods 191.5 billion made available to Italy is dedicated to the digitization of Well, businesses and the tourism and culture sectors. Businesses will benefit from 30.57 billion euros which can make a fundamental contribution to the technological modernization of our industrial fabric. The challenge for the next few years will be to develop projects capable of making the most of this treasure.
Technologies for B2b eCommerce
There are 19 thousand companies that in the 2020 they used theI know to exchange the main documents of the order cycle, without significant changes compared to 2019. They grow instead of 5% documents exchanged including invoices, orders, order confirmations and shipping notices. Interest in i Marketplace B2b which, already pervasive in B2c, are also starting to be widely used for relations between companies. The transaction made through these platforms has in fact grown by 67% between 2019 and the 2020. An increasingly massive use is expected thanks to the ease of use and the possibility of direct connection between the players in the supply chain.
Electronic orders in the healthcare sector
The balance of the electronic orders traded in the healthcare sector, which in April 2021 reached an altitude 7.3 million, with an average of almost 23 thousand documents a day. The 43% of the orders was sent using the Order Sorting Node (NSO) as the transmission channel, while the rest 57% it was traded through Peppol, architecture in significant growth internationally. The 74% of the suppliers of the institutions Ssn respondents to the Observatory survey is already reaping several benefits from the use of the system, such as increasing the speed of order processing (45%), better monitoring and traceability of the process (42%) and a significant decrease in errors within the supplier company (38%). To further improve the system, the 71% proposes to extend it also to transport documents and to Electronic sals and the 68% would like it to be applied to the whole Well.
Technologies to automate B2b processes – Following the obligation of electronic invoicing, many companies have begun to take an interest in technologies for process automation, considered the investment priority by 2022 from the 16% of Italian companies. The Observatory surveyed 33 applications of Robotic Process Automation (Rpa) in administrative and supply chain processes at an international level. The 67% of these solutions is focused on the order-delivery-billing-payment cycle and in particular on the billing phase, with 21 cases.
The technology that is attracting the most interest from companies is theArtificial Intelligence, protagonist of 120 international projects, of which the 58% already operational, testifying to a growing maturity of the initiatives and a greater awareness of the use of this technology in companies. The solutions of Ai they find application above all in the processes of planning, refueling and monitoring of supply chain (48%), then come the cross-process applications (45%) and how order cycle support (7%).
The solutions of Blockchain applied to supply chain. Out of 206 projects surveyed, mainly focused on monitoring the supply chain and supporting the order cycle, only the 12% is operational. But projects that involve an extended ecosystem, composed not only of business partners but also of government bodies, international agencies and companies belonging to other synergistic markets, are growing.