Artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics are not yet widely used in the Netherlands to improve customer communication. Only 22% of Dutch IT and business decision-makers say they use AI and/or robotics for this purpose. This is according to a new survey by Fellowmind, a European Microsoft partner that deploys cloud solutions to help organisations digitise.
This People & Technology Report 2022, conducted by research firm Markteffect across six European countries amongst more than 3,000 IT and business decision-makers, also shows that 41 per cent of Dutch respondents train and inspire their staff internally to drive digital transformation.
“We are living in fascinating times, in which digitalisation goes hand in hand with cultural change,” says Ernst-Jan Stigter, Regional Director for the Netherlands at Fellowmind. “Although the world has, to a large extent, undergone a digital transformation in the wake of the pandemic, the results of our survey show that many organisations were initially ill-prepared. Over the past year and a half, many companies have invested significantly in their digital infrastructure and staff skills through smart digital solutions. This aligns very well with our vision that non-digital companies will no longer have a reason to exist within a few years, as digital technology already plays a vital role in every organisation. With that in mind, it is crucial that employees embrace technology and enjoy working with it. Our mission is to support clients in the digital transformation of their businesses, ensuring that people remain at the heart of the process and make use of technology that works for them.”
Netherlands lags behind on AI
In the Netherlands, AI and robotics are not yet particularly popular, with less than a quarter of respondents using AI (22%) or robotics (22%) in customer communications. In addition, almost half of Dutch IT and business decision-makers do not even plan to invest in AI (40%) or robotics (48%) in the future. The main reasons for this are that respondents do not see the added value and fear that the investment costs are high.
"Frankly, we are surprised that the interest in investing in AI and robotics is so low," says Stigter. "After all, we see a lot of added value in these technologies, as they provide more insight and can take boring, repetitive and expensive tasks off our hands. I am therefore convinced that this percentage will rise considerably in the coming years, but apparently the Dutch are still waiting to see what happens."
Compared to other European countries surveyed (Germany, Sweden, Poland, Finland and Denmark), the Netherlands lags considerably behind in this area. For instance, about half of the respondents in the countries surveyed use AI (46%) in their customer communications and/or services. Finland (76%) and Denmark (73%) are clearly ahead in this respect. Moreover, almost three quarters of Finnish (73%) and Danish (71%) IT and business decision-makers use robotics, compared to an average of 43% across the six countries.
Impact of COVID-19
The Fellowmind People & Technology Report 2022 also shows that a third (33%) of Dutch IT and business decision-makers believe that COVID-19 has not boosted their organisation's digital transformation. This is the highest percentage within the countries surveyed. By comparison, in Finland and Denmark, almost three-quarters (73%) of respondents indicated that COVID-19 did have a transformational impact.
Within the countries surveyed, the most common way to drive innovation and digital transformation in larger organisations (1000+ employees) is to invest in employees. Almost half (43%) of IT and business decision-makers at these companies invest in hiring experienced senior-level tech savvy employees and 44% invest in hiring digital natives with expertise in technology. Looking at all organisation sizes, however, most respondents (38%) chose to train and inspire employees internally, compared to 31% to hire new staff.
"The survey shows that in the Netherlands, 41% of IT and business decision-makers choose to train employees to drive innovation and digital transformation," concludes Stigter. "This makes it a lot more popular than hiring new people, which 11% of Dutch respondents opt for. I think this is a good development; it helps companies retain employees and company culture and ensures continuity within organisations."
