LTLet's Connect
Business area digitalisation analysis

Forestry: digitalisation opportunities

How to connect forest plots, stand condition, risks, works, timber batches, environmental boundaries and long-term asset value.

Digital maturity

Typical digital maturity

Shows the level of technological and process digitalisation at which companies in the sector or business area typically operate today.

A typical market situation is assessed, not the most advanced companies.

The assessment consists of five equally weighted dimensions:

Core system usage
Whether ERP, CRM, WMS, MES, customer portals or other operationally important systems are widespread in companies.
Process digitalisation
How many core processes run in systems and how many are still managed manually.
Systems integration
Whether core systems exchange data between themselves or whether employees transfer information manually.
Data quality and readiness
Whether core data is structured, up-to-date, consistent and suitable for automation and analytics.
Advanced data use
Whether real-time analytics, forecasting, automated alerts, optimisation models or AI are used.

The final score is the average of the five dimensions.

1–5 scale

  • 1 very low maturity
  • 2 low maturity
  • 3 medium maturity
  • 4 high maturity
  • 5 very high maturity

A low maturity score does not necessarily indicate low potential. On the contrary, low maturity and a high level of manual work may indicate significant untapped digitalisation value.

medium
Skaitmenizacijos potencialas

Digitalisation potential

Shows how much significant business value a typical sector or business area company can create by systematically digitalising core processes.

The rating is calculated on a 100-point scale across five dimensions:

Process frequency and scale 20 %
An assessment of how frequently the digitalised processes recur and what proportion of operations they represent.
Manual work intensity 20 %
An assessment of the extent to which processes depend on email, telephone, Excel, paper documents and repeated data entry.
Impact on revenue and costs 25 %
An assessment of the potential effect on sales, margin, customer retention, administrative costs, errors, downtime or inventory.
Growth and scale potential 20 %
An assessment of whether digitalisation would enable operational capacity to be increased without expanding headcount and costs at the same rate.
Impact on decisions and risk 15 %
An assessment of the potential effect on data reliability, decision-making speed, customer experience, and the reduction of errors and operational risk.

The final score is calculated according to the assessments and weights of all dimensions.

100-point scale

  • 0–20 very low potential
  • 21–40 low potential
  • 41–60 moderate potential
  • 61–80 high potential
  • 81–100 very high potential

A high score does not mean the solution will be easy to implement. It indicates the size of the potential value, not the implementation complexity.

84/100
Biggest challenge
Forest plot and stand data is outdated or inconsistent
Biggest opportunity
Unified forest asset, risk and origin platform

Digitalisation in forestry must make the forest condition, operations and timber origin traceable throughout the entire long asset lifecycle.

Forestry operating model

The business area covers forest inventory, planning, protection, cultivation, felling, restoration, timber preparation and forest owner portfolio management.

Long biological and investment cycle

Current solution changes forest structure and economic value for decades.

Wide geographical spread

Remote data essential, but must be calibrated with field measurements.

Multidimensional forest value

It is necessary to simultaneously assess timber, biodiversity, carbon, recreation, water and climate resilience.

The importance of origin and legality for the value chain

Geographical and documentary data of plots and batches become essential for market access.

Market and technology context

EU forest policy emphasises resilience, biodiversity, regeneration and better use of data. EUDR will apply from 30 December 2026 to large and medium-sized enterprises and some small operators, and from 30 June 2027 to other micro and small enterprises. Therefore, geolocation, legality, operations and timber batch traceability processes must be established from the very start of the chain.

  • Climate risks and forest resilienceStorms, droughts, fires and pests increase the need for more frequent and responsive forest condition monitoring.
  • EUDR entry into forceFrom 30 December 2026, the requirements begin to apply to large and medium-sized enterprises and some small operators, and from 30 June 2027 to other micro and small enterprises.
  • Remote data availabilityCopernicus, LiDAR, drones and other sources allow more frequent information updates, but reliable integration with operations is required.

Core Operating Process

01

Forest inventory and plan

Managed plots, stands, condition, forest management objectives, restrictions and multi-year work plan.

02

Risk and Condition Monitoring

Fires, weather, pests, diseases, storms, remote imagery and field inspections are analysed.

03

Work Preparation

Area, permits, environmental constraints, technical specification, contractor, equipment and materials are defined.

04

Work Execution and Control

Location, volume, quality, violations, photographs and actual results are recorded via mobile.

05

Timber Preparation and Sales

Assortments, yards, measurement, transport, documents, buyer and origin are managed.

06

Regeneration and Long-Term Analysis

Survival, maintenance, stand development, revenue, costs and environmental outcomes are monitored.

Digital maturity pathway

0

Paper-based and individual experience-driven management

Plot documents, work plans and contractor reports are kept in separate files, whilst the actual forest condition is mostly known from periodic inspections.

1

Separate digital tools

GIS and forest inventory plan are used, but risks, contractor work, timber batches and finances are managed separately.

2

Core operations digitalised

Work plots and some source documents are registered digitally, but actual execution and stand condition updates often still depend on manual entry.

3

Core portfolio, works and source processes linked Typical current situation

In the selected forest portfolio, plots, stands, restrictions, contractor works, depots and timber lots are linked in a single history, though coverage is not yet uniform across all assets.

4

Production forecasted and optimised Siektina

Remote data and risk models help forecast damage, volumes, work requirements and investment priority, with results verified by field data.

5

Adaptive and ecosystem-open operations

Verified data are securely used with owners, contractors, buyers and certification or compliance processes, maintaining a clear history of origin and decisions.

Key finding

In forestry, digital value arises from linking time scales: multi-year forest condition must be connected to today's damage, contractor work and specific timber batches.

The first version should cover one forest portfolio and an end-to-end work and origin scenario: a relevant GIS object, contractor assignment, environmental constraints, actual performance and the timber batch traceability chain.

Related digitalisation topics

Forest GIS and asset managementRemote forest risk monitoringForest works and contractor managementTimber origin and EUDR traceability
Next step

Connect forest condition, contractor operations and timber origin

An assessment of which data gap in plots, stands, risks, operations or timber batches currently reduces forest value the most and increases compliance risk.

Discuss the digitalisation direction