The adoption of digital practices is accelerating and digital transformation is a central business strategy for four out of ten companies, especially large enterprises, service companies and innovative companies.

The majority of businesses (58.5%) use digital technologies to develop innovative business processes, leveraging, primarily, internal resources (human, material and technological) and know-how. The technologies that were mainly used in the period 2018/20 concern:

• internet of things technologies
• cloud computing
• cyber security
• big data analytics

Businesses identify as most important for their future development the technologies in the following areas:

• cyber security
• big data analytics
• cloud computing
• internet of things
• of 5G

A large percentage of businesses declare a lack of knowledge and understanding of the use of technologies, such as:

• artificial intelligence
• blockchain
• 3D printing

The key factors that facilitate the adoption of pioneering digital technologies are evaluated:

• staff with appropriate knowledge and skills
• public funding
• the information about new technologies
• the availability of public technological infrastructure

These are some of the important findings of the statistical survey of the National Center for Documentation and Electronic Content (EKT), which are published in the publication: "The Digital Transformation of Greek businesses, 2018-2020: Pioneering technologies". There the emphasis is on pioneering technologies of the 4th Industrial Revolution (Industry 4.0).The set of important indicators which identifies the digital transformation of Greek businesses presents upward trend in the three years 2018/20, compared to the previous period 2016-2018. The survey was designed and implemented within the framework of the European statistical survey on business innovation (Community Innovation Survey).

As noted by the Director of the ECB, Dr. Evi Sahini:

'The ECB in its statistical activity as National Authority of the Hellenic Statistical System, measures and captures critical parameters of digital transformation in order to support the design and evaluation of public policies. the present research for digital transformation captures the adoption of pioneering technologies of the 4th Industrial Revolution, presents the real data and the situation faced by dynamic Greek businesses, he records them digital strategies that adopt and highlight digital processes and practices of the period 2018-2020, which signal a continuous orientation towards a more digital business".

Digital transformation as a continuous strategy of Greek businesses

According to the results of the ECB's statistical survey on the adoption of digital transformation as a "continuous and comprehensive development strategy", 40.2% of Greek businesses consider digital transformation as an important continuous growth strategy, a value which shows an increase compared to the 2016/18 period (33.5%).

Large enterprises, active in the provision of services and innovative enterprises attach more importance to digital transformation than small and medium-sized enterprises, industrial and non-innovative enterprises. Αναλυτικότερα, ο ψηφιακός μετασχηματισμός είναι πολύ σημαντική συνεχής στρατηγική ανάπτυξης για το 54,4% των μεγάλων επιχειρήσεων και το 39,9% των ΜμΕ, for 44.4% of firms in services and 34.4% in industry, and for 46.8% of innovative firms and 22.7% of non-innovative firms.

In all major geographical regions of the country (NUTS1: Attica, Northern Greece, Central Greece and Aegean Islands, Crete) digital transformation is considered to a large extent very important continuous business development strategy, with the Attica shows the highest percentage (42.7%), followed by Central Greece (39.5%), Northern Greece (36.9%) and the Aegean Islands, Crete (34.5%).

Regarding the individual strategic areas of digital transformation, emphasis on digital technology to improve and develop goods/services (41.7%) and ERP systems (36%) emerge as the most pivotal areas. Strengthening the digital skills of staff is considered very important by 29.7% of businesses.

Digital transformation and business innovation

The positive effect of digital transformation on business innovation is confirmed by the survey results, as more than half of Greek businesses innovate in their business processes using digital technologies. More specifically, 58.5% of the country's businesses used digital technologies to develop new or improved business processes, a percentage increased by 11.6 percentage points compared to the period 2016/18 (46.9%).

Of particular importance in terms of the digital readiness of Greek businesses is the fact that the businesses that innovated using digital technologies had the resources (human, material, technological, intangible), the abilities/skills and know-how to develop the specific digital solutions themselves. applications.

Specifically, the statistical results show that29,7% of businesses developed the digital applications exclusively in-house που χρησιμοποιήθηκαν στις καινοτομίες επιχειρησιακών διαδικασιών, ενώ ένα επιπλέον 19,2% των επιχειρήσεων developed the digital applications both internally and externally. Only a small percentage of 9.6% developed exclusively external (out-sourced) digital applications for the same purpose.

Regarding the development of individual innovative processes, the highest use of digital technologies is recorded in business functions:

• "accounting or other administrative functions" (86.7%)
• "information or communication processing" (86.5%)
• "promotion, packaging, pricing, product placement or after-sales services" (82.2%)

Digital technologies are equally important for work organization and business management. In 2018/20, 32.8% of businesses rate the use of digital tools to enhance communication and the exchange of ideas between staff as a very important method of organizing work for their management. In 2018/20, 32.8% of businesses rate the use of digital tools to enhance communication and the exchange of ideas between staff as a very important method of organizing work for their management.

As for her business access to existing and new markets, to all innovative businesses, 64.6% increased their market share, while 43.1% expanded into new markets. Comparing period figures 2018/20 with the counterparts of the three years 2016/18, it follows that the individual practices of digital transformation which are considered very important for business access to markets are becoming more and more important, with the main focus being the operation of a specialized - with detailed information - website of the company.

Digital transformation and pioneering technologies

The ECB research recorded the use of pioneering technologies of the so-called 4th Industrial Revolution (Industry 4.0) for the development of innovative products and processes, as well as their importance in the future development of businesses.

Regarding the development of innovative products and processes, the main technologies used in the period 2018/20 concern:

• internet of things technologies (35.5%)
• cloud computing technologies (33.8%)
• cyber security technologies (29.2%)
• big data analytics technologies (24.2%)

In fact, these technologies were the central object in the collaborations carried out by the companies with third parties (universities, research centers, other companies) for the implementation of innovative and R&D activities. Specifically, the collaborations concerned internet of things technologies for 45.3% of businesses that entered into partnerships in the 2018/20 period, cloud computing technologies for 41.2% and cyber security technologies for 33.6%.

The most important technologies

Regarding the importance of pioneering technologies for the development of businesses in the future, the following stand out as the most important:

• cyber security technologies (17%)
• big data analytics technologies (14.5%)
• cloud computing technologies (13.6%)
• internet of things technologies (13.2%)