Imitators, not pioneers: Polish conservatism in technological innovations

• What's happening in Poland? - Looking at it from a cross-sectional perspective: in the coming years, we can expect an increase in investments in the areas of cloud computing, cybersecurity and compliance, as well as the digitization and automation of back-office processes - predicts Michał Rykiert, Chief Technologist Evangelist for the EMEA area at WEBCON.
• - The last five years have shown that "hard IT" can no longer be just reactive to business needs... It must be an equal partner for it, and in a growing number of organizations it is even becoming a leader in innovation - our interlocutor points out.
• "One of the most interesting changes I've seen in recent years is the growing importance of people who combine hard and soft skills. Those who understand digital technologies and solutions while also having a high level of awareness of how their organization operates," says Michał Rykiert.
• The conversation is part of a series of interviews that will serve as the basis for the report "From Tape to Algorithm. How Digitalization Shapes the Future of Industry," prepared by WNP Economic Trends in connection with the New Industry Forum (Katowice, October 14-15, 2025) .

What investments in the field of digitalization and digitization (and other related elements of Industry 4.0 - robotization and automation) do you think have dominated in Poland in the last five years?

Due to rapidly changing market conditions over the past five years, companies have been eager to invest in solutions that increase productivity and operational efficiency. These include automation, hyperautomation, and digitization of business processes.

Interestingly, companies that still have a long way to go in their digital transformation are motivated by the fear of losing their market position. At the same time, organizations that have consistently implemented their digitalization strategy for years see these same investments as an opportunity to increase their competitive advantage. Not only through increased operational efficiency, but above all, by supporting innovation.

The second major trend over the past five years is investment in digital resilience and compliance in general (e.g. KSeF, e-delivery, ESG).

Due to the growing number of cyberattacks, data leaks, and unauthorized access, companies are feeling pressured to intensify their cybersecurity efforts. Any incidents in this area pose not only the risk of financial penalties but, above all, the loss of customer trust and a negative image.

Investments in compliance are simply a requirement. The KSeF, despite numerous postponements, will soon become mandatory, and companies, whether they want it or not, must prepare for it. The same applies to other top-down initiatives.

Investments driven by international standards and supply chain pressures

How do you assess the digital maturity of Polish companies (in general and with SMEs in mind)?

"The awareness and maturity of Polish businesses are growing every year, but there's still much to be done. According to research, Poland is at the bottom of the EU table in terms of integrating digital technologies into business."

Large organizations typically fare best because they have adequate budgets and are implementing a developed digitalization strategy. They have the highest adoption of technology (e.g., MES, SCADA, digital twin, and modern ERP systems).

At the same time, investments are driven by international standards (compliance, ESG, cybersecurity) and supply chain pressures.

SMEs, on the other hand, most often focus on the fundamentals of digitalization—that is, ERP implementations, electronic document flow, and KSeF. Many companies are interested in implementing IoT (Internet of Things – editor's note) and artificial intelligence, but at this stage, implementations are mainly proof-of-concept and proof-of-value.

Based on WEBCON's experience and observations, which digitalization projects, especially those related to Industry 4.0, may dominate the activities of enterprises operating in our country in the next few years?

- Looking at it from a cross-sectional perspective: in the coming years we can expect an increase in investments in the field of cloud computing, cybersecurity and compliance, as well as the digitization and automation of back-office processes.

What criteria dominate today when making decisions about such investments?

- In our industry (digitalization, digitalization of business processes, low-code), clients are most often motivated by the desire to increase operational efficiency, the organization's resilience against knowledge loss and to maintain (and increase) its competitiveness.

Who do our companies cooperate with in implementing digitalization (supplier companies, startups, universities, research and development centers)? What barriers do you see here on a national scale?

- Our experience shows that medium and large enterprises are most willing to cooperate with integrators when it comes to digitalization – companies that have many solutions in their portfolio and select them individually to suit the client's requirements and budget.

This allows for better addressing the actual challenges that companies want to tackle, and at the same time relieves the organization of some of the burden associated with the need to perform market research, detailed analysis of solutions, etc.

How do you assess the potential and risks associated with acquiring and exchanging data with B2B partners (suppliers, customers)?

Data security remains the biggest threat, of course. Anyone who regularly browses cybersecurity industry portals knows that incidents involving leaks and unauthorized access are not uncommon.

I would, however, see opportunities in, among other things, supply chain optimization, where information is at a premium. Data on inventory levels, access to raw materials and semi-finished products, and transport status allow not only for optimal response to emerging variables but, above all, for anticipating upcoming events and taking appropriate preventative measures.

Digital solutions? "In larger companies, I encounter excessively extended purchasing processes."

How do digitalization and the changes in Industry 4.0 in general influence or will influence the management method and organizational culture in the company (including personnel changes, employee retraining, appointment of so-called transformation leaders)?

One of the most interesting changes I've seen in recent years is the growing importance of people who combine hard and soft skills. Those who understand digital technologies and solutions while also having a high level of awareness of how their organization operates. Furthermore, those who can integrate the expectations and goals of both business and IT, and who speak the language of both groups.

In some organizations, these people have a dedicated position (e.g. digital transformation leader, digital transformation manager), while in many, these people have "developed" in already existing positions, such as business analyst, department manager/director.

There are also companies that haven't trained (or hired) people with these skills. These organizations will have the greatest difficulty with effective and rapid digitization in the coming years.

The last five years have shown that "hard IT" can no longer be merely reactive to business needs. It must be an equal partner to the business, and in a growing number of organizations, it is becoming a leader in innovation, automatically supported by digital solutions. And it is these companies that will be the first to seize any opportunities to quickly gain a market advantage.

How do you see the level of awareness and protection against cyberattacks in industry? What actions should the government take in this regard?

- In large companies, especially in international corporations, this awareness is at a high level and I believe that it meets global standards.

At the mid-sized company level, there's a significant gap. Some companies clearly haven't experienced a cyberattack firsthand. However, others have already gone through this stage and are now adequately protected.

The greatest room for improvement is definitely in small businesses. I believe the government should offer and make available courses in cybersecurity and information hygiene.

It would also be worthwhile to create a security checklist so that each organization could assess its resilience against generally accepted guidelines. The result of such a test could be recommendations on which areas to focus on, along with suggestions on how to do so.

In terms of the level of robotization, we are lagging behind the EU, a digital twin is still a rarity overall, and there is hardly a long queue of companies waiting to use the data centers (cloud computing) that have already been developed in the country... What, in your opinion, remains the main reason for the slow digitalization of Polish companies so far?

Many companies and organizations approach technological innovations with caution. Few want to be so-called "early adopters" and learn from their own mistakes. Instead, a different approach dominates: observing what others are doing and following in their footsteps, once they've blazed some trails and achieved success.

This may be partly due to a lack of sufficient investment in employee education and adequate motivation for them to become digital leaders themselves.

In larger companies, I also encounter excessively long procurement processes that require months of evaluation and multi-stage approvals. In this context, the organizational effort required to purchase a new solution is sometimes as high as its implementation…

Cybersecurity? "Definitely the biggest room for improvement is in small businesses."

What are the reasons for the low use of AI in Poland (for companies employing at least 10 people in EU countries, in 2024 Poland was ahead only of Romania)? In what areas does AI have the greatest industrial potential?

- If we consider the advanced use of artificial intelligence, i.e., where AI operates on individual enterprise data (as opposed to "incidental querying" ChataGPT and using publicly available knowledge), then it is in this data that the answer to the question lies... Data must be complete, up-to-date, structured and unified for the use of AI to make sense.

And in many enterprises, data is still scattered - sometimes in different applications; sometimes in Excel files and other sources that are difficult to maintain from the point of view of long-term strategy.

I know of an example of an international company employing several thousand people in Poland alone, where strategic projects, worth tens of millions of zlotys, are still being developed in an Excel file created 15 years ago... What's more, it's hard to back out of this solution because no one remembers the entire configuration embedded in it anymore... Such situations are not uncommon.

Companies that want to strategically leverage AI must first ensure high-quality data—not just at the project's inception, but continuously. The best way to achieve this is to implement process applications that regularly provide this data and systematically ensure its quality.

In industry, I would see the greatest prospects for the use of AI in supply chain optimization (e.g. supply risk management, demand prediction) and quality control (where, thanks to machine learning, it is possible to detect defects and micro-defects with high efficiency - e.g. in electronics production or welding).

To what extent does the digitalization of the Polish state and its production and management processes support the implementation of sustainable development goals (ESG)? To what extent are the digital solutions implemented in our companies linked to, for example, energy optimization, carbon footprint, reporting transparency, and social responsibility?

Companies that don't yet have ESG reporting obligations are far too infrequent in ensuring that the tools they implement can easily deliver data on things like carbon footprints and other ESG-related aspects. As a result, digitalization initiatives and ESG reporting are conducted as two separate projects—and they don't have to be!

HR applications, in addition to their basic tasks (e.g. handling employee files, onboarding, etc.), should automatically provide data on employment structure, earnings, and any other data expected in ESG reports.

Similarly, all types of portals used for collaboration with business partners should collect carbon footprint data to facilitate the collection of information for the second and third scopes required by ESG. Such examples could be multiplied…

Therefore, the approach in which we introduce and/or prepare existing systems for ESG reporting is one of the most cost- and effort-efficient.

Unfortunately, many companies either have closed solutions that prevent them from going beyond their core applications, or they do not have a properly defined strategy to implement such a vision.