« Ideas for Québec » Forum – speech by Louis Audet, President and Chief Executive Officer, Cogeco Inc.
SPEECH BY LOUIS AUDET
PRESIDENT AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, COGECO INC.
“IDEAS for QUÉBEC” FORUM
CHAMPLAIN REGIONAL COLLEGE, SAINT-LAMBERT CAMPUS
SEPTEMBER 14, 2014
(Check Against Delivery)
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Mr. Premier,
Distinguished Ministers,
Madam Chair,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Good morning. I’m very pleased to be here with you today, as we come to the end of
three days of discussions and exchanges on a wealth of diverse ideas on the strategies
available to Québec to make the most of the opportunities provided by the digital age, to
fully leverage the impact of the digital revolution on innovation and, in so doing,
accelerate Québec’s economic growth.
I thank the Premier for his invitation, as well as the organizers of this forum, especially
its chief architect, Mr. Jean-François Garneau, for this opportunity to summarize, in a
few minutes, the main trends emerging from the presentations of the speakers who
preceded me.
Following this, I will try to articulate what appear to be the most promising avenues for
exploration, based on my own reflections as well as those of my colleagues at Cogeco.
One thing is certain, the presentations and exchanges heard thus far have been very
exciting.
At the opening of the Forum, our Premier, Mr. Philippe Couillard, invited us to think of
ways to stimulate innovation in Québec, including optimizing the untapped potential of
digital technology in Quebec in order to enhance the quality of life of Quebecers and
give Quebec back the power to make choices. We next heard from Alain Rousset who,
speaking from experience, inspired us and persuaded us that sparking innovation can
and must be part of a nation’s political agenda.
At the opening of the conference Saturday morning, our four speakers Mr. Jim De
Wilde, Jacques Nantel, Louis Duhamel and Sabin Boily spoke to us about the
randomness of each innovation, emphasizing that it is possible to create conditions
favourable to the emergence of new ideas without being too deterministic as to their
content. Our speakers also stressed the need to think big when considering the
potential of an innovative idea. Afterwards, Messieurs Lyons and Évin covered the
innovation perspectives with regard to health and social services, insisting on the
necessity of reviewing the processes in depth in order to achieve conclusive results
based on the specific realities of each society.
Saturday afternoon, Mr. Martin Keon and Mr. Jean Raby shared with us their
experience regarding the conditions needed to attract new talent and investment,
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drawing specifically on the experience of New York City. Professor Michel Cartier then
shared with us his concerns over the fractures that are emerging in Québec society. He
was followed by Mr. Michel Hervé and Mr. Daniel Ratier, the representatives from
France, a country which has evidently invested greatly in its quest to define a digital
strategy. Some speakers made much of the potential of digital technology in bringing
governments closer to their citizens, simplifying access to services, and facilitating
understanding of major social issues by the electorate.
This morning, Messieurs Jean-François Barsoum, Davis Hotte and Pierre Fortin painted
a picture of what the Smart Cities of Québec could be, serving as centers for the birth of
innovative ideas, as more functional places to live and for sustainable development.
I would now like to share with you how we at Cogeco are inspired by the ideas
expressed by these distinguished speakers. To date, with the presentations on the New
York City experience and Smart Cities, you have been served champagne and caviar.
As for me, I am afraid that what I have to offer this morning is bread, butter and
eggs….hard boiled!
We also reviewed the documentation available on the topic of “Digital Strategies”. We
identified Québec strategies, which are primarily focused on promoting culture; the
strategies of Canada, which focus on government initiatives. We also reviewed the
plans of Ireland, European Union, Mexico, France, Sweden, Finland, Singapore and the
United States. And we add these observations to the contributions we heard in the last
few days at this Forum.
What emerges from these testimonials is the need for the Government of Québec to
formally implement a digital strategy - a digital strategy that will promote the increased
use of digital platforms, including cloud and mobile applications, in Québec. This will,
in turn, help our productivity and our exports. Several studies have shown that the more
a country progresses in its use of ICT
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, the more productive it becomes. For a
successful implementation, this strategy must be a catalyst for small and large
industries, the educational system as well as political decision makers. It must not fall
under the responsibility of the Treasury Board as in the past, but rather under a
dedicated Minister of Digital Strategy answering directly to the Premier. Why? Because
reaping the benefits of a digital strategy will require aggressive monitoring since there
will be resistance to change at every turn; but fundamentally, because the interactions
and benefits resulting from a digital strategy extend across, and concern, all ministries.
Of course, the appointment of an advisory multi-partite committee that includes
representatives from the private sector will ensure that the benefits are felt in the overall
economy of Québec. We realize that this is a time of expenditure reductions rather than
of the creation of a new ministry, but we could not silence this idea.
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ICT : Information and communications technology
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The second observation quickly brings us back to earth: each national strategy depends
on the state of its existing infrastructures and the economy of each country. Singapore’s
initial strategy, a country that only had a network of obsolete copper wire to begin with,
was necessarily different from that of Canada, where there is an abundance of fibre
optic infrastructure and data centers. Strategies often respond to precise needs specific
to each situation. Thus Stockholm seized the opportunity at the same time to optimize
and reduce car traffic to decongest Gamla Stan, its tiny downtown, therefore increasing
productivity. So everyone must do their own analysis, which must mirror their reality!
This analysis for Québec has already been done, but the pieces have not, to our
knowledge, been combined yet into a coherent whole. In the midst of this discussion,
there are also myths that distract us from what is important, or are desirable but not a
priority at this time. Let us try together to make sense of this.
The most distracting myth today is that of infrastructure. Some have postulated the
need to establish short-term connections with minimum capacity of 1 Gbps to all
households and 10 Gbps in all places of business as a prerequisite to the emergence of
a magical prosperity that would come down from the heavens on Québec. Nothing
could be farther from the truth.
Indeed Québec is already equipped with top-notch facilities in optical transmission
networks and efficient data centers. Private industry develops its networks by making
substantial investments that grow in line with the actual needs of the homes and places
of business it serves. Already, companies that require it are supplied by service
providers with high-speed connections ranging from 10Mbps to 10 Gbps or more. Our
corporate experience is that only 8% of our major clients use a 10 Gbps or faster
connection. Why? Because they do not require more. And we are talking about very
large companies. Homes already have access to a minimum of 120 Mbps, and this
figure is growing year over year.
According to the CEFRIO
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, more than 80% of adult Quebecers used the Internet at
least once in July 2014. They relied on high-speed connections 85% of the time. Ninety-
seven percent of households with children have Internet. The rate of connectivity and
connection speeds are therefore not at issue here. What is at issue, based on all of our
research, is what the Internet is being used for. Let me explain.
Our data on Internet traffic trends in Québec and the rest of Canada reveal much the
same picture as elsewhere in the world: 75% of all residential bandwidth is used for
entertainment, that is, online video, music, games, and image storage. So the problem
isn’t that we don’t have enough bandwidth to be innovative.
2
CEFRIO: Centre Francophone d’Informatisation des Organisations
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Meanwhile, the OECD
3
’s PIACC
4
study figures for May 2014 reminds us that in Québec,
almost one in five adults (19%, to be exact) is still functionally illiterate. That’s worse
than the Canadian average, which is 15.5%, and worse than the result from the OECD’s
last study on the subject, published in 2003. If you were to tell me these adults don’t
have Internet, I wouldn’t be surprised. Moreover, last month, the daily newspaper La
Presse reported that Québec’s financial illiteracy rate is 63%.
I will open a parenthesis here to remind you that the OECD published its report on
Canada entitled "Economic Study of Canada 2014" at the International Forum of the
Americas in June. This study is very useful because it identifies with great precision skill
gaps in the workforce and how to correct this, which is rare. I close the parenthesis.
So if we’re here to take care of the “real issues” – “les vraies affaires” –what exactly are
they?
The stakeholders we met with had different opinions on certain points, but they
unanimously agreed on one: it is not enough to bring the potential of digital technology
to users; they then need to take ownership of it. And it’s at this particular juncture in the
conversation that we start addressing the “real issues”.
After much careful consideration and many discussions, we concluded that a central
thrust of Québec’s digital strategy must be ownership of the potential of digital
technology, to ensure benefits for a maximum number of Quebecers in three key areas.
The first two are healthcare and education, the two largest expenditure items in the
provincial budget.
The third is exports, because as we all know, it is by exporting ideas, services and
especially the goods that they produce, that countries create wealth for their citizens.
And this is a mandatory step if we are to narrow the gap in per-capita GDP between
Québec and the other jurisdictions in North America.
As you can see, we are a long way from dreams, and we are close to reality. I am of
course just as enthusiastic as the next person about the potential of smart cities. The
private sector is investing substantial amounts, and we stand ready to help all of our
customers achieve their aspirations, whether they be municipal, business or residential
customers. The infrastructure is there. It’s the applications that are lacking.
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OECD
(1)
: The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
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PIACC
(2)
: Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies
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And to be quite honest — and I don’t want to insult anyone — the applications of the
future that people talk to me about when discussing “smart cities” are much more about
enhancing quality of life (which is needed, I understand that) than increasing GDP and
collective wealth. Let us look at Health, Education and Exports each in turn, to get a
better idea of the challenges before us.
Health
Healthcare accounts for 43.4% of the Government of Québec’s annual expenditure
budget, or $32.3 billion in 2014–2015.
Our consultations convinced us that the benefits derived from digitalization in healthcare
can be abundant indeed. But to get there, we will need to change the fundamental
processes involved in referring and treating patients throughout the healthcare system.
The problem does not seem to be the number of teams, settings, agencies, clientele or
service centres; it mostly lies in the multiple methods of transmitting information, which
are ill-suited to digital, making the shift such a challenge. Every physician and every
institution will have to change and align their communication methods to successfully
shift to the digital age and reap the benefits. There will be resistance to change, and it
will be painful. But we must change. Some of the initiatives put forward by the CEFRIO
for the health sector will serve to create models, which can be replicated on a larger
scale.
In our view, the transmission belt linking the CEFRIO’s initiatives and the practical
applications isn’t powerful enough. And, incidentally, the latter observation is not limited
to the health sector.
Where do we start? Our research has not yielded the path to success. But directives
resulting from a government plan are essential. One concrete starting point could be to
decree that medical and administrative follow-up for every child born after January 1,
2017, be entirely digital, and that for the rest of his or her life, that person will not have
to travel for a diagnosis in cases where it can be done at home or remotely.
Now, I realize that I’m over-simplifying the idea, but it has the virtue of focusing attention
on the prerequisites that need to be put in place.
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Education
Education and culture represent 23.8% of Québec’s annual spending budget, or $17.7
billion in 2014–2015.
This sector is fascinating because it encompasses both management of the system and
the relevance of the content to be delivered to students. In terms of how the system
works and the resulting level of excellence in training, our meetings with Ron Canuel,
President of the Canadian Education Association convinced us that giving more
freedom to teachers in their teaching methods generally leads to better academic
performance and graduation rates. Mr. Canuel pointed out to us that the North
American education system was designed by Charles Taylor in 1920, when industrial-
rationalization models of schooling took precedence over encouraging creativity. The
current approach results in a cumulative dropout rate, after six years, of 25%. What a
waste!
How can we think about optimizing productivity and innovation by leveraging the digital
economy, when one-quarter of the next generation isn’t keeping pace? And I have
already mentioned functional and financial illiteracy earlier….
And while it is true that initiative and freedom of action are at the core of innovation, it is
also clear that there needs to be a framework for achieving this excellence. The use of
digital tools for in-class learning cannot be left to the good will of individual teachers.
Establishing a structured framework for digital technologies in education is necessary,
mandatory and urgent.
Our meetings with Namir Anani, President and CEO of the Information and
Communications Technology Council, or ICTC, a group that is 50% financed by the
federal government, have convinced us that our CEGEP and university programs are
not a good match for the needs of the ICT sectors, because they are not properly
geared toward industry requirements. The Ministry of Education can easily remedy this
shortcoming through a fairly simple process of consultations.
The ICTC forecasts that by 2018, the IT sector in Canada — a qualified labour force,
the very foundation and expertise required for a digital strategy — will face a 16%
deficit, or 180,000 jobs, based on a national base of about 1.1 million jobs in this field.
This deficit strikes at the heart of our weaknesses, because it amplifies our collective
deficit in the development of the digital applications that we need for a successful
economy. All this in a context of free trade, which promises opportunities, but also
brings competitive challenges.
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From a higher perspective, it is our duty to give full meaning once again to the culture of
risk-taking, innovation and enterprise. The Ministry of Education and the Government of
Québec overall must be directly involved in providing more support to youth
entrepreneurship.
Exports
Here is where our research yielded the most unexpected results. When it comes to
exports, this is where we really move toward the topic of wealth creation. First of all,
when we look at statistics from the Business Development Bank of Canada, the sad fact
is that only 4% of Québec companies are active on export markets, and 92% of our
exports are made by just 12% of companies that are active on foreign markets.
Our meeting with Ms. Jacqueline Dubé, President and general director of the CEFRIO,
was quite fascinating. Ms. Dubé spoke eloquently about the chronic under-exploitation
of information technologies—and therefore the weakened potential of digital—by
Québec companies, including exporters. This has also been communicated to us by Ms.
Lydia Divri, President and CEO of Techno Montreal. Promoting the use of ICT in
Québec must therefore become a priority.
Here are a few observations.
The CEFRIO tells us that Quebecers conduct nearly $8.0 billion worth of online
transactions per year. But while close to two-thirds of Québec’s SMEs now have a
website, only 15% of them sell online. So Québec consumers are buying online, but by
and large, it is not Québec retailers who are benefiting.
Second, the CEFRIO informed us on the situation of Québec manufacturers, something
none of the other groups was able to do. What we learned is that, generally speaking,
our companies, both large and small, have leading-edge production equipment,
including robotics. But they lack connectivity with the companies’ management systems,
which are often rudimentary. In other words, these systems are ill-suited to today’s
market realities. Here are some examples of adoption rates among Québec SMEs:
enterprise resource planning software, or ERP: 32%; customer relationship
management software, or CRM: 22%; supply chain management software, or SCM: 8%.
Such systems are often under-used because the companies haven’t devoted any time
and effort to business process re-engineering.
These shortcomings are preventing Québec exporters from optimizing their exports,
from gaining a sufficiently profound understanding of Canadian and foreign markets,
and entering those markets if they haven’t already done so. Depending on the size of
the business, the solution can be fairly simple to implement.
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The challenge will be to help companies with 25 or fewer employees who lack expertise
in digital technologies—and lack the financial means to hire consultants to remedy the
fact that they don’t have the means to access that expertise.
In absolute terms, these shortcomings are easy to overcome. But Québec’s small and
medium-sized enterprises need help. And in fact, this is true right across Canada,
where we have 20,000 SMEs with fewer than 10 employees accounting for 75% of jobs.
So that’s the segment we need to focus on, because the large corporations have
greater resources, and this is not a problem for them. A simplified, results-oriented tax
system should be implemented.
Some have suggested to us that the tax credit programs for the purchase of ICT
equipment are not needed, because companies will eventually buy the equipment
anyway. These credits could be replaced by digital technology ownership assistance
programs, targeting purchases of the appropriate software and process re-engineering.
From this is likely to emerge a cohort of SME consultants with digital expertise who can
help SMEs in their transition, and at lower cost.
At this stage of our research, you’ll agree with me that a significant increase in the use
of digital technologies to promote innovation does not rely on any single measure, and
that it is not really a matter of infrastructure in Quebec. We have all kinds of other
upgrades to carry out: they are delicate, complex and difficult to achieve, because they
go right to the core of how our goods and services delivery processes are built.
Let us now summarize the required actions.
The most important recommendation is for the government to implement a digital
strategy for Québec. This strategy must be the responsibility of a Minister of Digital
Strategy, reporting directly to the Premier.
Healthcare, education and exports should be designated as the priority areas for rolling
out this digital strategy.
In the health sector, there is an urgent need to harmonize methods of information
delivery among all stakeholders in healthcare in order to improve our services.
In our education system there must be a renewed focus on creativity, the desire to
innovate, and entrepreneurial drive. The recourse to digital technologies in the
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classroom must become mandatory. Illiteracy and school dropout rates are social
plagues we must eradicate.
There is an urgent need to realign CEGEP and university ICT programs to industry
needs.
Programs to promote excellence in education and pride in success must be put back on
the agenda.
An Economics Awareness Program, which our company, Cogeco, has been promoting
since the fall of 2013, must be introduced in our secondary schools, so that our young
people understand their respective roles and the contributions they can make to our
economic system, the benefits to them and the related responsibilities—and as a result
become full-fledged citizens. This need arises from the CROP study entitled "Economic
Solidarity in Québec, attitudes and expectations towards governments and businesses”
commissioned and introduced by Cogeco on January 28 2014 (available on
www.cogeco.com).
In terms of the export industry, we believe that creating a fiscal abatement program for
SMEs that adopt integrated IT systems could be a huge step in supporting these
companies, our exports, and wealth creation.
All of these upgrades I’ve just described—and some of them are major—must be
implemented if we are to close Québec’s productivity gap, which stems from a lack of
reliance on digital technology and ICTs.
As you can see, we are talking about an improvement process with thousands of details
that we cannot hope to co-ordinate individually, but that we must set in motion by wisely
choosing the appropriate incentives. Solutions summarized in a few words will never
meet the demands of the task before us. In this regard, the CEFRIO, with its expertise,
must be involved, and should be allocated substantially higher financial resources to
facilitate knowledge transfer, using specific models for individual industry segments in
the transition to digital technologies. I am enclosing a briefing note from the CEFRIO,
dated August 19, 2014, which summarizes the strategies that should be implemented
(at the end of present document, available in French only).
I hope I have convinced you that the challenge for the digital economy in Québec is not
one of infrastructure, but one of ownership and empowerment. The gains to be made
are at the network endpoints, where users must change their ways of doing things, and
adopt software and applications to improve their economic performance. This will help
grow the economy of Québec and give a boost to our business activities. And you'll
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notice, once again, that all paths lead to the need to raise the level of education of the
population. This is a fundamental and unavoidable reality.
Before I leave you, I feel the need to clarify our position. We enthusiastically support
promoting the attractiveness of our province as well as our evolution toward the
concepts of Smart Cities. However, we believe that in order to succeed and build a
society that takes advantage of the digital revolution to the fullest, we must act upstream
so that the greatest number of people can benefit. Moreover, we believe that these
initiatives are not mutually exclusive, but cumulative.
Thank you for this opportunity to speak to you today. I look forward to exchanging ideas
with our panellists and everyone assembled here today.
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NOTE D’INFORMATION
Le 19 août 2014
1. EXPORTATIONS
1.1 QUELQUES FAITS ET CONSTATS
En 2009, le Québec comptait 10 681 établissements exportateurs de biens vers l’étranger. De ce total,
94,1 % des établissements avaient moins de 200 employés (soit 10 049 établissements) et la valeur de
leurs exportations représentait seulement 51,9 % de la valeur totale des exportations. Autrement dit,
48,1 % de la valeur totale des exportations en 2009 avait été concrétisée par les 5,9 %
d’établissements exportateurs ayant plus de 200 employés
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.
La taille des entreprises compte également lorsque l’on analyse la provenance des ventes en ligne des
entreprises du Québec. Pour l’ensemble des entreprises, 21 % du chiffre d’affaires provenant de
commandes reçues par Internet est issu de clients hors Québec. Pour les entreprises de plus de 250
employés, 45 % des ventes par le commerce électronique proviennent de clients hors Québec
2
.
Dans son rapport intitulé « Pour des PME de classe mondiale
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», Secor souligne que l’accélération de
l’économie numérique ouvre des nouvelles possibilités pour soutenir la capacité d’exportation des
PME. Selon le CEFRIO, le développement de la capacité numérique des PME va permettre de capter
ces opportunités et de favoriser l’exportation et la croissance.
Le secteur aérospatial du Québec présente une caractéristique intéressante. Alors que ce secteur est
un fleuron québécois à l’international, une part importante des entreprises du secteur, les sous-
traitants, n’ont pas suffisamment diversifié leurs clients à l’étranger. Ceci fragilise ces derniers face
aux grands donneurs d’ordres qui ont commencé à se tourner vers des sous-traitants internationaux.
L’enjeu pour ces sous-traitants consiste à donc à se donner la capacité d’être présent à l’international.
Finalement, le numérique génère aussi des nouveaux modèles d’affaires créateurs de nouveaux types
d’entreprises. Comme le souligne un article de la revue de l’OCDE « Small international businesses are
flourishing on the back of new technology, and becoming more multinational than much larger
international corporations. […]. » Alors que les données démontrent normalement que les grandes
entreprises sont au cœur des exportations des pays, les nouvelles études tendent à démontrer que les
plateformes de vente en ligne changent la donne : « […] a remarkably high 85% of business sellers on
eBay were engaged in cross-border sales in 2010. This is much higher than the offline number which
varies between 5% and 15%. Moreover, size matters less
4
».
1
MEIE (2014), « Le commerce extérieur du Québec : Le calepin, édition juillet 2014 ».
2
Institut de la statistique du Québec (2013), « L’intégration d’Internet aux processus d’affaires dans les entreprises
québécoises ».
3
SECOR (2011), « Pour des pme de classe mondiale. Analyse des résultats de l’enquête pme : innovation/ exportation auprès
de 550 dirigeants québécois ».
4
OCDE Observer (2014), “eBay and the rise of the micro-multinationals” Pierre-Louis Vézina, Research Fellow, University of
Oxford.
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2. COMMERCE ÉLECTRONIQUE
2.1 QUELQUES FAITS ET CONSTATS
En 2013, selon les données du CEFRIO, 79 % des adultes du Québec ont effectué au moins un achat en
ligne. Il s’agissait d’une augmentation de 12 points de pourcentage par rapport à 2012. Le CEFRIO
estime que le montant total dépensé en ligne au Québec au cours de l’année 2013 est de 7,3 milliards
de dollars, soit une augmentation de 7,4 % par rapport à 2012.
La situation est moins encourageante du côté de nos entreprises. En effet, selon les données de
l’enquête NetPME 2011 du CEFRIO, seulement 15,2% des PME de 5 à 499 employés possédant un site
web font de la vente en ligne. En 2012, l’Institut de la Statistique du Québec publiait également des
résultats comparables sur cette mesure, ce qui permet au CEFRIO d’affirmer que la présence de nos
entreprises québécoises demeure encore trop faible en matière de commerce électronique.
À l’automne 2014, le CEFRIO doit débuter une mesure inédite auprès des entreprises de 5 employés et
plus du Québec relativement à leurs activités de commerce électronique. Cette mesure conduira à des
stratégies d’action adaptées pour le passage au numérique.
Penser à la gestion du « back office » et à l’intégration des systèmes
Le commerce électronique est intimement lié à l’ensemble des systèmes de l’entreprise et doit donc
être pensé ainsi. Le commerce électronique offre aux PME un moyen accessible pour accélérer leur
développement et leur croissance locale ou à l’étranger. Cependant, l’entreprise qui se lance dans
cette aventure doit préalablement opérer un travail de planification, de formalisation et d’intégration
de ses processus d’affaires.
Trois défis sont associés au démarrage d’activités de vente en ligne :
o planifier les impacts sur la production. L’entreprise doit pouvoir faire face à une montée
soudaine de la demande. Dans le commerce de détail, plusieurs entreprises se sont lancées dans
la vente en ligne et n’ont pas été en mesure de soutenir leur croissance en raison d’une gestion
des inventaires déficiente.
o améliorer ses systèmes de gestion. Par exemple, l’implantation d’un système intégré de gestion
de type ERP.
o Finalement, s’assurer d’avoir accès aux compétences nécessaires pour opérer cette transition.
Ceci implique des compétences technologiques, en vente, en marketing et communication, en
gestion, en logistique, etc. Il faut aussi développer les compétences numériques des
gestionnaires et des travailleurs.
3. SYSTÈMES INTÉGRÉS DE GESTION
3.1 QUELQUES FAITS
Selon une enquête du CEFRIO
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, les PME sont équipées des logiciels suivants :
o Progiciel de gestion intégrée ou ERP : 32,3%
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o Progiciels de gestion de la relation client (CRM) : 22,2%
o Progiciels de gestion de la chaîne logistique (SCM) : 8%
o Site internet : 65,7%
5
CEFRIO, « NetPME 2011».
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Le Québec est la province la mieux positionnée à ce chapitre,
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3.2 QUELQUES CONSTATS LIÉS À L’UTILISATION DES SYSTÈMES DE GESTION
Le CEFRIO
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a démontré que c’est l’intensité d’usage des TIC qui a un impact sur l’innovation et non le
fait de posséder une technologie. De la même manière, la mise en place d’un système de gestion ne
permet pas d’obtenir les gains escomptés tant que les conditions permettant d’en faire un usage
intensif ne sont pas mises en place.
Les données du portrait de l’aérospatiale du CEFRIO vont dans ce sens. Alors que 56 % des entreprises
sondées possèdent un ERP, 40 % d’entre-elles disent ne pas l’utiliser de manière optimale.
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L’implantation d’un système de gestion demande de suivre une démarche formelle de transformation
des processus (standardisation) et de consentir des efforts importants pour la gestion du changement,
l’adoption des outils par le personnel et le développement des compétences numériques. Lorsque
vient le temps d’implanter un logiciel intégré de gestion, les problèmes sont plus souvent d’ordre
organisationnel que technique, une question d’affaires et non d’informatique.
Une autre difficulté des PME est liée au manque d’intégration entre les différents systèmes. La mise
en place de différents logiciels de gestion est réalisée de manière parallèle (hétérogénéité et
multiplication des systèmes) sans une planification de la communication entre ces derniers. Ainsi, on
dispose de technologies pour les différents processus, mais il manque l’intégration de celles-ci.
Au-delà de l’entreprise privée, ces problématiques sont également vécues dans les organisations
publiques, notamment dans le domaine de la santé.
Pourquoi ces difficultés ?
Souvent dans les PME, l’informatique n’est ni au cœur de l’expertise, ni au cœur des préoccupations.
Pour leurs projets informatiques, les PME font appel à des ressources qui détiennent une expertise
spécifique, mais qui n’ont pas une vue d’ensemble de la stratégie numérique de l’entreprise.
Également, comme le soulignent des chercheurs associés au CEFRIO
9
: « Bien des PME surestiment les
résultats quelles peuvent tirer d’un ERP et sous-estiment les efforts à consentir pour les atteindre ».
Le CEFRIO observe que c’est l’usage de meilleures pratiques qui fait la différence pour le succès ou
non d’une démarche de passage au numérique, bien davantage que d’autres éléments tels que la taille
de l’entreprise ou le secteur. C’est pour cette raison que le CEFRIO est à mettre au point un modèle de
maturité pour le passage à l’entreprise numérique, permettant à une entreprise de faire le diagnostic
de sa capacité numérique, d’établir son plan numérique et de mettre en place une démarche
structurée de passage au numérique.
EN RÉSUMÉ
Les entreprises ont besoin de développer leur capacité numérique pour se tourner avec succès vers la
vente en ligne et l’exportation. Pour ce faire, elles doivent solidifier leurs processus d’affaires et
favoriser l’adoption des outils numériques par leurs employés.
Il est nécessaire de faire un « wake-up call » au Québec sur l’importance de transformer nos
entreprises vers des « entreprises numériques » et ce, dans tous les secteurs et toutes les régions.
Le CEFRIO a mis en place une démarche pour la transition vers l’ « entreprise numérique ». Au cœur
de celle-ci, le plan numérique vient assurer un alignement de la stratégie numérique avec la stratégie
globale de l’entreprise. Ce plan vient formaliser les ressources requises, les processus à transformer, la
gouvernance du projet, la formation requise ainsi que les stratégies de gestion du changement .
7
CEFRIO (2012), « Indice d’innovation par les TIC ».
8
CEFRIO (2014), « Cap vers l’entreprise numérique ».
9
CEFRIO (2014), « Cap vers l’entreprise numérique ».
4
INNOVATION PAR LES TIC – UNE MESURE DU CEFRIO
Au terme d’une revue de littérature approfondie, d’une analyse de douze études de cas ainsi
que d’un sondage pancanadien, le CEFRIO a fait la démonstration que ni le type de technologie
utilisée ni le montant investi en équipements n’ont d’effet sur l’innovation et la pe rformance.
En revanche, l’intensité d’utilisation des TIC ainsi que les efforts consacrés à la gestion et au
changement organisationnel ont un impact positif fort
10.
Il est aujourd’hui reconnu qu’une entreprise performante se doit d’être innovante, mais quels
sont les facteurs clés qui influencent cette innovation? L’enquête menée par le CEFRIO en a fait
ressortir plusieurs, dont les plus influents sont l’intensité d’utilisation des TIC, les modifications
significatives apportées à l’organisation et la présence d’équipes multidisciplinaires.
L’innovation est également favorisée par l’expertise et la culture d’expérimentation de
l’organisation.
Selon les données recueillies, pour une majorité d’entreprises, l’usage «INTENSIF» des TIC est
encore un phénomène d’exception, autant du côté des progiciels de gestion (seulement 20%
utilisent très intensivement).
L'INTENSITÉ D'UTILISATION DES TIC SELON LA TAILLE DE L'ORGANISATION
Contrairement à ce que l’on pourrait croire, les grandes entreprises et organisations n ’utilisent
pas vraiment les technologies de façon plus intensive que les plus petites.
En effet, les résultats ne montrent pas de lien entre la taille et l’intensité d’utilisation des TIC, à
l’exception de cinq technologies suivantes : 1) des progiciels de gestion (ERP, CRM ou SCM); 2)
de l’informatique décisionnelle; 3) des outils de cyberconférence; 4) des systèmes de
vidéoconférence; 5) de même que des logiciels de gestion de projets. Ces technologies, souvent
complexes, sont utilisées plus fortement par les grandes entreprises.
L'INTENSITÉ D'UTILISATION DES TIC AU QUÉBEC ET AU CANADA
L’intensité d’utilisation des TIC est en moyenne significativement plus faible au Québec que
dans le reste du Canada. Cette différence se retrouve pour presque toutes les catégories de
technologies.
Les entreprises et organisations québécoises utilisent significativement moins que le reste du
Canada :
o les technologies en lien avec les partenaires, fournisseurs et clients (à l'exception des
réseaux sociaux),
o les outils analytiques,
o les outils de stockage de données (Big Data) (mais pas les outils de gestion des données
ou Data Mining),
o les outils de communication et de collaboration (à l'exception de la messagerie
instantanée et des agendas),
o les applications mobiles,
o les logiciels applicatifs et outils de gestion (à l'exception des suites bureautiques et de la
gestion électronique de documents.
En matière de courriel et d’informatique en nuage, les entreprises et organisations du Québec
présentent la même intensité d’utilisation que celles du reste du Canada.
10
CEFRIO (2012), « Indice d’innovation par les TIC ».