Digitalization of Industry and IT Investment Efficiency Discussed in Yekaterinburg

Deputy Governor of the Sverdlovsk Region Dmitry Ionin welcomed the participants on behalf of the head of the region, Denis Pasler, and noted that digital transformation remains one of the key development areas for the Middle Urals industry and aligns with the goals of the national project "Data Economy."

"Today, digital technologies have ceased to be an additional advantage and are becoming a prerequisite for the sustainable development of enterprises. A company's ability to maintain competitiveness, increase labor productivity, and adapt to new economic conditions directly depends on how effectively it implements modern IT solutions," emphasized Dmitry Ionin.

As part of the business program, Minister of Digital Development and Communications of the Sverdlovsk Region Evgeny Shonov presented approaches to assessing the digital maturity of industrial enterprises.

Vitaly Cherepanov, Director of the ANO "Scientific and Technical Society 'Navigator'," stressed the need for an integrated approach to the digital transformation of enterprises.

"The most costly mistake of digital transformation is perceiving it as a set of separate IT projects. In practice, results appear when the implementation of digital technologies becomes part of the strategy and helps improve the efficiency of a company's production and management processes," said Vitaly Cherepanov.

During the discussion, participants also addressed issues of assessing the efficiency of IT investments and managing technical debt.

"Today, the IT infrastructure of many enterprises resembles a complex, multi-layered mechanism that has been formed over decades. To make the right investment decisions, businesses need to see this system as a whole and understand its strengths and weaknesses. That is precisely why tools for comprehensive auditing, digital twins, and modeling technologies—which allow evaluating the consequences of decisions even before their implementation—are beginning to play an increasingly important role," emphasized Maxim Pekin, Director of NIR-Center.

Following the event, participants noted that the digitalization of industry requires a systematic approach, and IT investments are becoming an important tool for increasing production efficiency and ensuring the sustainable development of enterprises.

Photo: NIR-Center