Digitalisation and Artificial Intelligence (AI) are not only changing processes and systems in family businesses, but also how decisions are prepared, responsibility is distributed, and the future is shaped. Leadership and ownership structures often determine the pace and direction of transformation: Who sets priorities? Who is responsible for data and AI applications? Who bears risks and makes strategic decisions?
If roles and responsibilities are clearly defined, digitalisation and AI can create transparency, support informed decision-making, and enable innovation and new business models. Strategically designed, they strengthen the ability of family businesses to continuously renew themselves – and thus their grandchild-capability over generations.
The WIFU Foundation offers scientifically sound orientation knowledge and transfer formats to support entrepreneurial families and family businesses with their classification, prioritisation, and implementation.
Family businesses are typically characterised by a strong relationship culture and a long-term ownership logic. Both can facilitate – and simultaneously hinder – digitalisation. The high sense of responsibility towards the company and employees is beneficial; it is inhibitory where decisions remain highly dependent on individuals or where data sovereignty is primarily perceived as a risk.
Typical too is: Digital investments compete with other priorities of the entrepreneurial family. The owner role thus becomes the critical factor for pace and prioritisation. Digital transformation A family business therefore needs a clear framework that connects technology, organisation and the owner's perspective – and for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEremains realistically implementable.
Four factors particularly shape the implementation:
Digitisation for SMEs primarily encompasses process and data integration, automation, and digital customer interfaces. Artificial intelligence (AI) complements this with data-based forecasts, recommendations, and assistance functions that influence decisions and responsibilities.
Digital transformation within a company is far more than a pure IT project; it is above all a leadership and organisational project – and therefore a topic for Business management. Priorities, responsibilities, and decision-making processes must be organised in a resilient manner. In family businesses, digital transformation therefore also becomes a question of family business governance: how are responsibility, communication, and decisions reliably organised between ownership, family, and management?
Digital transformation in family businesses is intrinsically linked to owner logic: who sets the direction? Who decides on investments? How are risks borne? Therefore, digital transformation requires a framework that systematically connects strategy, resources, and governance. A viable Strategy of Digital transformation Sets a few clear priorities, clarifies responsibilities, and makes progress measurable.
A central component in this is the Digital Readiness. It describes the preconditions for digital projects to actually have an impact and not get bogged down in individual initiatives. Key questions for digital readiness can be:
Many family businesses start with process digitisation because it quickly brings relief and improves data quality. In production, additional benefits arise when machine, quality, and maintenance data are merged – for example, for transparency, quality, and maintenance. It becomes particularly effective Digitalisation of production, when data flows are stable and responsibilities are clearly defined.
At the same time, digital customer interfaces are changing service and sales: proximity to the customer is maintained, while support and responsiveness become more scalable.
However, the greatest leverage often lies in the Digitalisation of the business model. Data becomes a source of value, supplementing traditional product sales with services, subscriptions, or usage-based models. For family businesses, it is crucial that new revenue models align with the owners' logic, are organisationally viable, and do not falter due to unclear roles or a lack of data responsibility. The more data-driven the offerings and AI-The more driven these are, the more important clear responsibilities for data quality, risk and decision-making rights become.
Artificial intelligence isn't just technically supplementing digitalisation. It's fundamentally changing how decisions are prepared and made. For family businesses, AI is therefore primarily a question of responsibility and governance: Who is allowed to use which data for what purpose? Who checks results? Who is liable?
Precisely because family businesses are built on longevity, values, and trust, the use of AI must align with the logic of ownership: transparent, understandable, and connectable across generations. A viable AI Strategy prioritises a few meaningful use cases, establishes clear data responsibility, and develops competencies in specialist areas and management.
The goal is „Augmented Intuition“ – the combination of experience-based knowledge and data-based decision support, where decisions remain comprehensible and accountability is clearly assigned.
For AI to be used effectively and responsibly in a family business, clear guidelines are necessary. Four points are central to this:
An AI strategy defines,
It connects use cases, data strategy, governance, and competency building, thereby creating a reliable framework for the responsible use of AI in the family business.
Digitalisation in family businesses often touches upon identity and control. It changes routines, transparency, and the way knowledge is created, shared, and secured within the company. The next generation often brings new impetus, digital competence, and a willingness to change. However, these contributions only become effective when roles and responsibilities are clarified.
This is particularly relevant in the context of Business succession. If responsibility, decision-making rights and skills development are reorganised between generations, then digital transformation in SMEs becomes a shared project instead of a point of conflict. This allows existing knowledge to be systematically documented and made usable, and ensures it remains relevant even with generational changes.
Digitalisation and Artificial Intelligence (AI) only have an impact when their consequences for organisation, culture and governance are understood. The WIFU Foundation bundles scientific findings for this purpose and makes them usable for the practice of family businesses.
The aim is to provide orientation knowledge that helps,
Digitalisation means, first and foremost, that family businesses should not only keep an eye out for the latest technologies and trends, but also integrate them into their day-to-day operations – for example, to optimise internal processes and workflows or to innovate their product and service portfolio. But which technologies and trends make sense for which types of family businesses? How can digital technologies and trends help to make processes more efficient? How can products and services be digitised? Family businesses must ask themselves these questions in order to harness digitalisation to their advantage.
The integration of digital technologies and trends usually brings about organisational upheaval for family businesses. This opens up new opportunities for innovative business models or strategic directions. As a further consequence, however, internal structures – such as organisational processes and set-ups – must also be rethought. Employees, and particularly senior management, should also embrace digital transformation and actively put it into practice. All of this requires systematic management of internal change, which reconciles the opportunities and potential of digitalisation, on the one hand, with the positive characteristics of family businesses – such as traditional values – and, on the other hand, with the challenges faced by family businesses, such as generational conflicts or the stringent demands of the company and its owners.
Digitalisation in small and medium-sized enterprises involves the integration of processes, data and customer interfaces, ensuring that information is available throughout the organisation and that workflows become more efficient. In family-run businesses, however, digital transformation affects not only technology but also roles, Decision-making processes and responsibilities in the interplay between family, ownership and the business. Digitalisation is effective when it is given strategic priority and embedded within governance structures in such a way that it remains sustainable even as personnel change.
The biggest hurdles usually lie not in the technology itself, but in limited resources, a lack of prioritisation and unclear responsibilities. In family businesses, an added complication is that data sovereignty, risk perceptions and investment decisions are closely linked to ownership logic. The role of the owner therefore often becomes the critical factor for pace and direction. Digitisation then fails not because of the tools, but because of a lack of decision-making and implementation capability.
Digital readiness describes whether strategy, data, skills and governance are sufficient to implement digital projects effectively. The key factors are whether a small number of prioritised use cases with clear benefits have been defined, whether data sources and responsibilities have been clarified, and whether the necessary time and skills are available. Digital readiness thus provides guidance on which steps can be taken immediately and where the foundations need to be laid first.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is not only changing processes, but also Decision-making logic: Decisions are increasingly prepared on the basis of data, yet must still be accountable. An AI strategy prioritises a small number of use cases with measurable benefits and clarifies data ownership, quality, security and data ethics. It strengthens expertise within specialist departments and at management level, and ensures through governance that responsibility remains clearly assigned.
Family businesses and entrepreneurial families who want to approach digital transformation not just as an IT project, but as a strategic and governance issue, will find contacts at the WIFU Foundation for:
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