The 5 biggest digitalisation challenges facing Austrian businesses in 2026/2027

Digitalisation projects rarely fail for a single reason, and almost never because of the technology alone. In this article, we look at the five most common challenges we have encountered in digital projects in 2026, and at what can be done to overcome them.

One of the most common challenges, and one of the most common reasons digitalisation fails, is a focus on technology. Instead of analysing problems and finding appropriate solutions, the refrain is “We need an app” or “We have to use AI”. If that statement comes at the end of a detailed evaluation of existing processes and a careful analysis of potential solutions: excellent. But if the digitalisation process begins with a demand for a particular technology, it often ends with a near desperate search for use cases. The outcome? High spend but a low ROI.

The most common reason why companies focus so heavily on specific technologies is usually external pressure. Companies today face pressure to deliver faster, better and more cost-effectively than the competition. On top of that come high customer expectations. These conditions are tough and create pressure to act fast. But action without a clear strategy rarely achieves much.

Many of these technology-first projects have no defined objective and no concrete end point that all stakeholders work towards. Ask how, in twelve months’ time, you will know whether the project has succeeded, and the room will fall silent. Even worse, without clear objectives and end points, the scope of the project will balloon without delivering any real value to the company and users.

How can it be done better? Evaluate processes, identify problems, and THEN find solutions to the problems that have the greatest impact on the business. With a clear objective and a binding measure of success. In parallel, feasibility is tested through a proof of concept. Netural offers extensive strategy and engineering support – whether for AI, an app, a portal, a platform or something else entirely.

Another common challenge is organically grown data, system and process landscapes – often sufficient to keep the status quo running, but not sufficient for new digital solutions. Especially AI. Among them are challenges with missing APIs or system connectors, unmaintained datasets, weak (or missing) data strategies, undocumented processes and much more, causing AI or automation solutions to fall short in output quality and performance.

Remember: output is only as good as input, and processes are hard to digitalise if they are only documented in the heads of a few employees and carried out differently at every site.

Organically grown IT landscapes, legacy systems, a lack of standards and the mindset of “we know how we work; there’s no need to document anything” make it harder to introduce new solutions, AI in particular. Yet data and system maturity usually only become an issue when there is no other option: when vision collides with the realisation that “That won’t work in our company.”

This is particularly evident with master data. Every portal, every configurator, every sell-in catalogue depends on master data. But data that has so far been good enough internally can easily fall short when it comes to demanding customer experiences and new AI applications, for example because of incomplete attributes, missing images or inconsistent classifications. The result? The digitalisation project unintentionally turns into a master data project, without clear ownership and budget – at a point when most stakeholders already expect results.

To prevent this from happening, every digitalisation project must be preceded by a system, data and process check, including roles, systems, artefacts and pain points. Only then do expectations become realistic and the effort plannable. Netural helps build sound data strategies, connects data and systems through cloud-based, on-premises or hybrid architectures, and develops resilient platforms that automate processes, enforce data quality guidelines and support users in their daily tasks.

This challenge consists of several factors: The ROI of digitalisation projects is often difficult to calculate, partly owing to a lack of benchmarks. This increases the uncertainty of the investment. At the same time, budgets are tight given the economic climate, and there is pressure to justify spending by demonstrating its commercial benefit.

The expectation is often that digitalisation should pay off immediately and visibly. Groundwork that takes time but isn’t immediately visible is frequently overlooked or disregarded. What is missing is an understanding that laying foundations costs money, and that not everything will “sparkle” straight away. This also includes inflated expectations of prototypes and PoCs, which can prove technical feasibility but are, by definition, not built for production.

Combined, these mindsets and trends can derail digital projects, either because they are nipped in the bud or because so much is cut from the foundations that the performance of the final solution is bound to fall short.

Our team will gladly help with your business case, work to establish realistic expectations among all stakeholders and provide expert input on the feasibility of your vision. While Netural is not the ideal provider for teams with small budgets, we always focus on what really matters and provide strategic support in prioritising what promises the greatest value.

We have already discussed the importance of solid foundations, the importance of looking beyond a theoretical business case, and the problem of focusing on technologies rather than solutions. What we have not yet discussed is the role we humans play in digital progress.

Digitalisation always goes hand in hand with change, and the extent of that change is routinely underestimated. Companies often expect employees and external audiences alike to switch to new solutions and processes easily. The reality, though, is that many users are comfortable with the old, established processes and interfaces. They may not be perfect, but at least they are familiar.

A new tool, at least at the outset, means change and additional effort. Resistance is particularly strong when the new tool has been developed without regard for its users, when it is overly complicated, or when it adds little value and fails to meet users’ expectations. Internally, it also matters how closely employees are associated with the old solutions: anyone who was involved in developing and introducing the legacy systems can easily feel personally attacked by the introduction of a new one, especially if a loss of status looms. Others simply want to stick to familiar routines and avoid extra work, or feel unsettled due to a lack of technical know-how, bad experiences with previous projects or a general aversion to AI.

In our projects, we therefore focus on four things: actively involving key partners and stakeholders from the affected departments, gathering the requirements and needs of key users early on, delivering comprehensive change management support, and designing compelling user experiences.

Many companies struggle with a lack of know-how and experience. The result: only a handful of employees have the skills to contribute effectively to a digitalisation project. But these employees typically have other responsibilities too, so the digitalisation project is simply added to their already busy schedules. Overload, mistakes and low morale follow.

The labour market does little to close this resource gap: qualified IT and data professionals are scarce and expensive, all the more so outside major urban areas. Many companies therefore choose to bring in external support from digitalisation agencies. This makes it easier for them to run their projects alongside day-to-day business.

Netural brings more than 25 years of digitalisation experience – from consulting through concept and design to the finished solution. We deliberately focus on measures that relieve your team rather than add to its burden. Examples include AI-assisted content migration and comprehensive project and partner management. If required, we also work on site, side by side with your in-house team, to maximise knowledge transfer.