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Filings buzz in the railway industry: 15% decrease in digitalisation mentions in Q3 of 2021
Toby Hawkins, sales and marketing director at mpro5, explains why a pandemic and the Plan for Rail reforms mean tidiness is no longer a luxury, rather it will have a real impact on customer safety, satisfaction, and the Service Quality Regimes.
Mentions of digitalisation within the filings of companies in the railway industry fell by 15% between the second and third quarters of 2021.
In total, the frequency of sentences related to digitalisation between October 2020 and September 2021 was 66% higher than in 2016 when GlobalData, from whom our data for this article is taken, first began to track the key issues referred to in company filings.
When companies in the railway industry publish annual and quarterly reports, ESG reports and other filings, GlobalData analyses the text and identifies individual sentences that relate to disruptive forces facing companies in the coming years.
Digitalisation is one of these topics, companies that excel and invest in these areas are thought to be better prepared for the future business landscape and better equipped to survive unforeseen challenges.
To assess whether digitalisation is featuring more in the summaries and strategies of companies in the railway industry, two measures were calculated.
Firstly, we looked at the percentage of companies that have mentioned digitalisation at least once in filings during the past twelve months, this was 82% compared to 52% in 2016. Secondly, we calculated the percentage of total analysed sentences that referred to digitalisation.
Of the 50 biggest employers in the railway industry, ID Logistics Group was the company that referred to digitalisation the most between October 2020 and September 2021.
GlobalData identified 45 digitalisation-related sentences in the France-based company's filings, 9% of all sentences. Sinotrans mentioned digitalisation the second most, the issue was referred to in 4.2% of sentences in the company's filings. Other top employers with high digitalisation mentions included FedEx, XPO Logistics and Poste Italiane Group.
Across all companies in the railway industry the filing published in the third quarter of 2021 which exhibited the greatest focus on digitalization came from Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering. Of the document's 1,304 sentences, 25 (1.9%) referred to digitalisation.
This analysis provides an approximate indication of which companies are focusing on digitalisation and how important the issue is considered within the railway industry, but it also has limitations and should be interpreted carefully.
For example, a company mentioning digitalisation more regularly is not necessarily proof that they are utilising new techniques or prioritising the issue, nor does it indicate whether the company's ventures into digitalization have been successes or failures.
In the last quarter, companies in the railway industry based in Asia were most likely to mention digitalisation with 0.73% of sentences in company filings referring to the issue. In contrast, companies with their headquarters in the US mentioned digitalisation in just 0.39% of sentences.
Credit: SkedGo | MOTIONTAG
Which countries are seeing the most growth for data analytics roles in the railway industry?
The fastest growing country was the UK, which saw 1.6% of all data analytics job adverts in the three months ending November last year, increasing to 4.5% in the three months ending November this year.
That was followed by India (up 2.6%), Australia (up 0.8%), and Hungary (up 0.6%).
Ultimately, when your facilities feel clean, your passengers will feel safe.
Which cities are the biggest hubs for data analytics workers in the railway industry?
Some 4.8% of all railway industry data analytics roles were advertised in Chicago in the three months ending November, more than any other city.
That was followed by San Francisco with 4.8%, High Point with 3.3%, and Atlanta with 2.8%.
Main image: Toby Hawkins. Credit: mpro5
