The challenges reported by LatAm companies on the path to digital transformation

Companies in Latin America are being challenged by market needs to quickly become data-driven firms and employ technological innovations such as machine learning and artificial intelligence. 

Industry surveys conducted by BNamericas in the third quarter found specific hurdles faced by executives from the region's mining, oil and gas, electric power and infrastructure sectors.

Having "a unified data platform with visualization of the entire production process" was considered the main challenge on the path to digital transformation, accounting for 28% of the 622 responses received by BNamericas for its mining, oil and gas, electric power and infrastructure survey reports.

The challenge of unifying data platforms is more present in companies in the infrastructure industry (34% of responses) and mining (31%) and less so in the electric power and oil and gas sectors, where it accounted for 24% and 25% of the responses, respectively.

The difference in the responses could be due to the fact that some industries, like electric power, began processes of digital transformation earlier than others.

The second biggest challenge cited was achieving "seamless and efficient collaboration and access to design and engineering information without staff mobilization," which registered 18% of total responses. It accounted for 20% of responses from executives in the mining sector, 19% in oil and gas, and 17% each in the electric power and infrastructure industries. 

The third biggest hurdle involves changing the organizational culture to “improve and empower work teams to make the most of the workforce and retain talent,” reaching 17%. 

Digital transformation spending

Over 50% of the respondents in all sectors said their companies will increase digital transformation spending next year. The response was highest in the mining and electric power sectors, at 54% each, followed by oil and gas with 51%.

Only 12% of respondents in mining, 10% in electric power and 6% in the oil and gas sector said they will “significantly increase” their spending in the next 12 months. This question was not asked in the infrastructure survey. 

Between 20% and 23% of respondents in each industry indicated they will maintain their budget for digital transformation projects. Meanwhile, about 6% of the mining industry respondents said they will decrease or significantly decrease spending. This figure was 4% for electric power and 3% for oil and gas.