Germany's trades sector is increasingly using digital tools and digitalised working methods. Over two-thirds (68 per cent) of trades companies are now using digital technologies and applications, according to a recent survey of 503 such companies by the digital industry association Bitkom and the German Confederation of Skilled Crafts (ZDH) just published in Berlin. Two years ago, the figure was only 53 per cent.
The survey found that cloud computing - the usage of storage capacity and computer operations in the internet-ranked first among trades companies, at 45 per cent, with a further 26 per cent of firms reporting that they now plan to use the cloud.
The second most-used digital application is tracking systems in which machinery and operating materials can be more closely monitored. Every seventh (15 per cent) trades company reported using tracking systems, with another 20 per cent saying they had plans to do so as well.
The survey found that major potential is now seen in the area of "predictive maintenance" equipment, which uses sensors and data analyses to try to anticipate possible breakdowns early on. So far, only 14 per cent of German trades firms use such equipment, but 23 per cent are now planning to do so, the survey showed.
New-trend areas such as artificial intelligence (AI) and virtual reality/augmented reality (VR/AR), by contrast, are scarcely a topic with the skilled trades firms. Only one per cent of the 503 firms surveyed reported using any AI applications. The figure for VR/AR was three per cent.
According to the Bitkom-ZDH survey, digitalisation especially gained in importance for 56 per cent of trades companies due to the corona pandemic. Some 20 per cent of firms said that their digitalisation had been accelerated during the pandemic, while 36 per cent replied that the topic "had gained in importance."
Despite the rising application of digitalisation in communications, the telefax machine has not vanished from German trades firms. The survey found that 99 per cent of the companies do use e-mail for external communications, but that 77 per cent reported that they still use telefax with their customers and suppliers.
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