According to Ricoh research, a worrying picture emerges for European SMEs; if they fail to respond adequately to market needs on the digital theme they risk bankruptcy, exactly by 2020.
At this moment in history, the digital revolution is changing relationships between companies and especially between companies and consumers, and this scenario increasingly reinforces the realization that innovating is no longer a choice but a necessity, so neglecting this factor means falling behind and risking extinction.
The Ricoh report shows that it is mainly consumers who are defining the direction of this transformation, as well as the customers of companies; and this is where most of the observations are focused because the "innovative inputs" come precisely from the customers, in short, it is they-and especially their needs-that are pushing companies to a rapid change of course.
So it is the expectations of customers that have a decisive influence on the need to innovate, and supporting this thesis are the numbers: in fact, 51 percent of small and medium-sized enterprises will implement new technologies to support the needs of their customers, in order to keep up with competitors and circumvent the shadow of failure.
