The expert named the key reasons for companies' transition to digitalization

Today, delaying automation is becoming a strategic choice that directly affects the company's position in the market. The key factor for success is the speed of business adaptation to changes. Natalia Dolzhenkova, Executive Director of ELMA, told Izvestia about the main automation triggers on May 26.

The first of them is a drop in margins. Declining profits force companies to look for ways to reduce costs, and automation is becoming a tool to increase efficiency. In many cases, the introduction of digital solutions makes it possible to reduce the proportion of manual operations and speed up document processing from a few days to several hours.

"The second trigger is rising costs. In 2024-2025, salaries in the deficit segments increased by 13-20% with 8-10% inflation, which increases the pressure on business. In an environment where wages are growing faster than revenue, automation is becoming a prerequisite for maintaining competitiveness," the expert said.

The third factor is scaling. Entering new markets requires standardized and reproducible processes. Without a single digital platform, growth management turns into chaotic manual administration.

The fourth trigger is increased competition. Companies that have implemented automation reduce the response time to customer requests from days to minutes, which directly affects market share and service quality.

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The fifth factor is regulatory requirements. Legislation in the field of personal data, reporting and tax control forms the mandatory digitalization of processes, especially in the financial and public sectors.

The sixth trigger is a shortage of personnel. According to the estimates of the Ministry of Labor, by 2030, the shortage of workers in Russia may amount to more than 3 million people, which makes automation one of the key tools to compensate for the personnel shortage.

The expert noted that most often companies come to automation under the influence of several factors at once. At the same time, the key risk is trying to implement too many solutions at the same time without working through the processes.

According to Dolzhenkova, successful automation does not begin with choosing a technology, but with analyzing current processes and calculating the economics of change. The most effective approach is considered to be a step—by-step approach - launching individual processes with subsequent scaling.

As a result, the expert emphasized, companies actually determine themselves where to put a comma in the automation issue. However, the longer the decision is delayed, the more difficult it is for a business to compete in terms of speed, efficiency, and cost of operations.

On May 21, Veronika Vodokhlebova, a business coach and expert in leadership development, noted in an interview with Izvestia that the labor market has undergone major transformations in recent years. According to her, the resume has turned into a marketing tool that should primarily appeal to the algorithm, not the person. Artificial intelligence systems and ATS filters have become widely used for the primary analysis of candidate data.