The analysis of the digital transformation trends in the Ukrainian economy

Abstract

The consistent evolution of technology around the world creates new production tools and opportunities for different economic agents. As a result, new economic structures are emerging as a result of industrial revolutions. Today, the digital economy is seen as the backbone of the fourth industrial revolution, as there is a clear shift in the underlying technology and signs of a technological and economic paradigm shift. The current stage of the industrial revolution is associated with the Internet communication technologies development, which has significantly changed the technology of business processes and has been called "digitalisation". Thus, the fourth industrial revolution and the third wave of globalisation are based on the digital economy. The article explores trends in the development of the Ukrainian economy under the influence of ubiquitous digitalisation. Digital transformation changes traditional business models of organisations, allowing them to occupy profitable niches in global markets, raising the prestige of business and the state as a whole. In today's environment, the level of digitalisation illustrates the degree of companies' competitiveness and is a determining factor in development strategy. To analyse the processes of digitalisation and determine the place of Ukraine in the digital world, the article identifies and describes four zones of digital transformation, which are particular to the world economies. It is determined that Ukraine has fallen into a zone of prospective economies, where digital infrastructure is limited. Still, digital development is accelerating, indicating the potential for digitalisation to flourish, which will benefit economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and long-term transformation. Ukraine's integral digital transformation index score is placed at 2.81 out of a possible 5 in 2021. It was determined that the main barriers to the digital transformation development in Ukrainian business include ineffective legislation, insufficient funding and low digital literacy of the population. However, the highest score among the index components was given to companies' overall level of digital transformation. A positive result of the survey is confirmation of increased investment in the digital technologies development in Ukraine: priority investments in this area include customer interaction, data analytics and HR management.