What is next? Did digital transformation just become even faster?: Internet usage vs. productivity

Abstract

Modern businesses have been going through a strong organizational transformation, caused by technology, strongly accelerated by the new digital era. Some of the most provoking discussions revolve around the change in productivity. Nowadays in times of economic crisis, issues concerning the economic influence of ICT and the Internet are even stronger, which has been even more visible during times of covid. This academic article refers to relevant scientific work on various levels stressing and engaging the context of Macedonia. Hence efforts are made to synthesize aspects related to actual impact considering local enterprises in different industries. Additionally, organizational changes are also included being impacted by the tremendous internet usage. This paper aims to find a coherent approach to coping with the digitally challenged business world. Quantitative research performed has been engaging management representatives of various companies where conclusions are drawn, related to the influence of the Internet on productivity in an economic sense, as well as for the respective organizational changes and business models. Confirmation for the urgency to consider the importance of such a research effort is that at a large scale (over 90%) it is believed that the use of the Internet seriously changes the ways of working, increases the efficiency of operations, and seriously positively affects productivity. The Internet has been coping with certain effects on innovation, especially transforming communications with partners and end-users. Hence there are solid grounds to suggest that the Internet and ICT seriously affect digital transformation processes in Macedonian enterprises, which opens a wider discussion for a more extensive further research attempt.