Wake up and smell the "IT coffee"!

One of the major obstacles to digitization is the resistance to change and double standards that thrive at all managerial levels in Swedish business. In the worst case, it could cost the broad group of medium-sized industrial companies their entire future as they are led towards abysmal and anti-market market positions with historical signs.

It's about, as it usually does, not being able to let go of the old and embrace the new. Understanding trends is a quality one might think Sweden's leadership set should be the world's best at, given the country's internet penetration, IT habits and international trade. But no.

In private, board members and the entire management team are 100 percent digital, they know exactly which apps they want on their mobiles. The integration interface is complete and banking matters, e-commerce, seminars and the hotel booking land easily in both the calendar and the personal finance app. On their mobile, they control their lives and communication with everyone. Webcams in the cabin, apps to keep the car at the right temperature, babysitting and feeds from news and social media.

At home you are connected. You have control over what happens if someone comes in, if it starts to smoke or burn, ants and mice, you have control over the outer shell protection. Replacing technology in the home is a matter of course. A new USB device that configures itself. You remove the car sticker when you change cars and install a new one that also works with the garage door, the parking fee, the alarm and the fuel dispenser.

But as soon as the management steps into the company's sphere, they are changed – almost like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. All cultivated and intuitive digital skills remain in the private mobile phone. The company brings in a consultant who recodes the old car app so that it works with the new car. This is called customization but is as modern as rebuilding an old push button phone to show movies.

Companies usually have an enterprise system, or ERP, and preferably the management does not want to know how it works. The person who understands, the CIO, is preferably kept away from the management team. IT systems are always seen as costs, never as investments or as part of the driving business process. Then the management would have had to understand IT, God forbid.

At work, you let any consultant build direct integrations between systems and reinvent the wheel over and over again. At the company, they talk about IT risk as if the risk lies with IT without realizing that everyone who can log in is exposed.

But. In companies today, there is no longer room for someone who thinks that IT is only for the IT department. Understanding, taking part in and acting on IT and its risks should be a matter of course for everyone. Not least the management.

So why do management teams and boards continue to use old push-button phones at work when they have smartphones in private? When will the broad group of medium-sized Swedish industrial companies upgrade their business processes? A system that manages all other systems and an organization that understands how it works also means that the company takes care of its digital development, takes responsibility for the digital agenda and moves the company into the present.

So yes, it is high time for the majority of Swedish companies and their management to wake up now.