Navigating The Digital Landscape: Insights Into The French Market's Embrace Of Technology

• Published date: 08 January 2024
• Subject Matter: Media, Telecoms, IT, Entertainment, Technology, IT and Internet, New Technology
• Law Firm: AlixPartners
• Author: Mr Antoine Chauvel and Jaufre Surroca

In a world where bytes travel faster than our thoughts and where change is the only constant, companies must continuously transform and adapt to keep pace. In AlixPartners first annual Digital Disruption Survey, we reached out to C-level executives across 250 American and European companies to understand their perceptions on technology. Against the backdrop of global transformations, France stands at a crossroads between tradition and innovation. Is the digital age a threat to French businesses' way of life or the dawn of a new Trente Glorieuses era? Read on to gain our insights on a market unlike any other.

Digital awareness: Opportunities and threats in abundance

Within the executive suites of French corporates, there is a broad spectrum of perceptions about technology's impact on their operations. While 34% of French leaders foresee minimal threats to their revenue, a substantial portion (86%) foresee moderate to significant growth opportunities in digital. Surprisingly, they also seem to downplay the transformative potential of digital disruption: 70% do not anticipate artificial intelligence (AI) impacting their workforce in the next three years, even as the technology reshapes industries worldwide and these same businesses pinpoint AI as a key digital investment.

Amidst the uncertainty, our digital teams have worked with clients to cut through the weeds. Leveraging our partnership with NAX Group, AlixPartners helped a leading global insurance company (headquartered in France) harness its internal data to develop new products for new segments of its market, generating incremental revenue growth. NAX uses AI to rapidly develop consumer and enterprise products. Coupled with business insights from AlixPartners, new solutions and services are rapidly commercialized to win new markets. This approach cuts down uncertainty by accelerating innovation, product development cycles, and time to market. Failing fast'freeing you to move on to the next idea'mitigates the risk of high upfront investments and prevents companies from getting bogged down by technology.

Investment drive: Catching up and operational efficiency are today's priorities

French corporations exhibit a strong appetite for investing in digital tools and technologies, particularly when compared to their global counterparts. A notable 46% of surveyed companies increased their digital investments over the previous year. This eagerness underlines the realization that technology is a pivotal driver of future success. However, the analysis of the use of these digital investments also reveals that French companies are mainly prioritizing the optimization of their operations (46% of executives surveyed), and addressing the technical debt accumulated in recent years. This is done perhaps to the detriment of investments in growth and the transformation of their business...