European consumers are heavily invested in digital technologies—83 percent of people have access to the internet in their homes, and 76 percent say they use the internet regularly. But the reality is that Europe has a long way to go to fully tap the potential of digitization – according to a new report, the continent is operating below its digital potential, and accelerating digitization could add trillions of euros to economic growth in less than a decade.
The extent to which companies have used digital to redefine business processes and their labor forces is still relatively low. Digitization also varies greatly among countries, sectors, and companies within the region. If more is done to adopt, diffuse, and use digital, tremendous economic value could be captured. Although there are active initiatives to deepen Europe’s digitization, including moves towards removing barriers to a single digital market (that remains to be seen with the UK’s recent decision to leave the EU), proposals for the European Cloud Initiative, and a range of e-government initiatives, a further push is clearly needed.
