Digitalization explained in a fast-technological environment: Main challenges and solutions from a consulting point of view

Abstract

Companies currently find themselves in a rapidly changing technological environment due to the changes driven by digitalization. Those changes are shaped by the IT development and its shift towards the core role of a typical corporation. The main purpose of this Master thesis is to understand what is digitalization, what the main challenges are and how it should be approached. In order to do so, this study is supported by 11 semi-structured interviews with mainly management consultants in Helsinki, Finland. The interviews are analyzed with qualitative content analysis and the results are presented in the empirical findings’ paragraph. The main results are an extensive definition of digitalization explained contextually in a Nordic country. The main challenges are the necessity of reinvention from traditional companies, the changes driven by automation, formation of ecosystems and drawbacks of internet as based infrastructure for digital businesses. According to the results of this study all corporations, except the ones that have tight regulations, should start to boost the Lean startup approach, foster partnerships with actors/businesses likely to improve their own business and small crossfunctional teams that develop variety of digital projects. Furthermore, management consulting is the industry where the changes derived by digitalization are analyzed. It can be highlighted the new business opportunities, the changes in the structure of the industry, new capabilities needed and the powerful tools enabled by new digital technologies as well as improvements in data quality.