Chile stands out as one of the most advanced countries in Latin America, and is above the global average in the index produced by EY based on surveys in 15 of the region’s economies.
EY has produced its new Digital Maturity Index, which assesses the level of progress on digital transformation in the region, based on the perspectives of 715 business leaders in 15 Latin American countries (Chile, Peru, Colombia, Venezuela, Mexico, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Panama, Guatemala, Bolivia, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Paraguay).
“The study aims to measure business leaders’ reactions regarding the digital transformation of their organizations in the last year,” explained Claudia Cornejo, Business Transformation Associate Partner at EY Chile.
Digital maturity in Chile
Chile received a score of 62.7 (on a scale of 0 to 100), which places it above the global average (61.2). “Chile stands out as one of the most advanced economies in the region, four points behind Panama, which leads the ranking. Both are considered to be ‘on the way to maturity’, which means that organizations in these countries are already working proactively on a clear roadmap toward digital maturity. However, there are some opportunities for improvement for digital integration to be achieved in a uniform way across all dimensions,” said Jaime Caiceo, Partner in Data & Analytics at EY Chile.
One of these opportunities for improvement in Chile is related to the gap in maturity between sectors. Telecommunications (70.6), banking and insurance (68.6), professional services (66.3), and healthcare (65.6) companies have a significant advantage over education (58.4), construction (56.3), and, in particular, manufacturing (49.6), which is the lowest-scoring sector.
“These differences are due, in part, to the fact that certain sectors have had to accelerate their digitalization processes, such as telecommunications or banking, because the core of their business and value chain is increasingly sustained by a more accessible and personalized customer experience. As the study indicates, digital transformation applied to customer experience is a priority for companies,” said Mr. Caiceo.
Opportunities for improvement
According to Ms. Cornejo, the manufacturing sector is worthy of analysis. “It has been hit hard recently by the scarcity of materials and resources due to climate change, the pandemic, and various social and geopolitical conflicts, which have significantly increased production costs. For those reasons, the manufacturing industry is facing headwinds to achieve its growth targets,” she said.
“Our hypothesis is that the majority of companies are attempting to respond to these challenges using traditional approaches; but, in reality, the international evidence is showing us that the companies seeing success are those that have made a leap in defining and implementing a digital strategy, changing some relevant paradigms in their operations,” she added.
In this context, Ms. Cornejo also noted that “in the manufacturing sector, for example, some organizations are integrating cutting-edge manufacturing capabilities and smart technologies in their facilities through smart factories to create a more diverse and sustainable workforce, using data to make better decisions in the elimination of losses, and increasing productivity throughout their supply chain”.
Did you know that Chileans are considered to be early adopters of technology? Also, telecommunications giants are building data centers in Chile. To find out more about the advantages of investing in Chile and why it is considered to be Latin America’s digital hub, please read the following article.
Source: El Mercurio
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