The Impact of Digital Technologies on the Companies’ Strategic Management

Abstract

Thanks to digital technologies, companies ensure competitiveness in the market, acquire new sources of revenue and transform management strategies. The companies have gained more opportunities to enter global markets and access goods and services in any country worldwide. These opportunities change their strategic development priorities and enable the scaling up of their activities. The article aimed to analyze the impact of digital technologies on the strategic management of companies. Methodology. The authors utilize a statistical analysis approach to assess changes in the strategic management of companies in the context of digital technology integration and solutions. They analyze secondary data from a survey of 414 IT directors in 2020 regarding the strategic priorities in the digitalization era. The research results confirm the shift in strategic priorities of enterprises (during and after the pandemic) due to the active integration of digital technologies. The authors identify the trends of increasing investments in direct digital business transformation and digital transformation expenditures, from $1,6 trillion in 2022 to $3,4 trillion in 2026. Starting in 2020, digital transformation and changes in business processes, operational efficiency improvement, optimization of customer experience, and support for remote work have become key strategic priorities for businesses. The need for enhancing cybersecurity and protection, optimizing digital employee experience, improving workforce productivity, and increasing profitability are identified among important business initiatives. The following challenges and opportunities for enterprises during the implementation of digital technologies have been identified: (1) data becomes a foundation of competitiveness; (2) development of the Internet of Things allows large companies to enter markets and expand internationally; (3) digitalization of business and economic sectors, active development of new segments (biotechnology, digital communications, medical technologies, etc.); (4) virtualization of IT systems as physical infrastructure; (5) the use of artificial intelligence for facilitating strategic decision-making through processing and analysis of large volumes of data. Highlights. The article aimed to analyze the impact of digital technologies on the strategic management of companies. The research results confirm the shift in strategic priorities of enterprises (during and after the pandemic) due to the active integration of digital technologies.