Strategic opportunities for digitalization of Russian timber industry enterprises

Abstract

The timber industry complex is of high significance to the economics of Russia due to vast stocks of wood, extensive distribution of the forests throughout the territory of Russia, large scale of the timber industry and widespread use of finished timber products both in our country and abroad. Digitalization of the timber industry complex has been developing in recent years, as the digital transformation is a global technological trend penetrating more and more spheres of human activity and facilitating accelerated development and increased effectiveness of manufacturing. At the same time there are a lot of challenges on the way to full digitalization. The purpose of the article is to analyze the current situation and to reveal the opportunity of raising the level of digitalization of the timber industry complex of Russia as a strategically important component of the Russian economics on the basis of implementation of new platforms. The authors study the issues of digitalization of the timber industry complex of Russia focusing on the external environment: analyze qualitative indicators of the ICT sector development in Russia and abroad and the intensity of application of the ICT achievements in the industry as the basis for further digitalization. The authors examine the impact of the current crisis on the entire timber industry complex and on the prospects for its digital transformation. The key risks and threats for implementation the ICT achievements have been determined. Recommendations on mitigating these problems for the timber industry complex have been developed including the step-by-step algorithm for implementing digital platforms at the wood processing enterprises.