A question of money

According to the survey, other obstacles to digitalization are a lack of time (15 percent) and mature technologies (15 percent). In contrast, a lack of qualifications or commitment on the part of employees is only a minor obstacle:

Only eight percent of SMEs cited a lack of employee knowledge as the biggest challenge and only seven percent a lack of planning. This is in stark contrast to large German companies: For them, the lack of employee qualifications is the biggest challenge (25 percent).

Although the majority of SMEs have long been convinced of the importance of digital transformation, only three percent of the companies surveyed internationally have already completed cross-company transformation projects.

The financing of digital transformation projects remains in the hands of the financial sector for the majority of SMEs in Germany (88%). More than half (57%) see the greatest advantage of digitalization in the next two years in bringing new products to market faster. This is followed by increased brand awareness (39%) and the development of new products and services.