Not only the current crisis has shown: The German SME sector is lagging behind in terms of digitization! We have summarized exciting survey results for you and show why digital training is worthwhile for SMEs.
The company starfinanz surveyed medium-sized enterprises at the end of 2019 to what extent digital transformation has arrived in their operations. A good piece of news right away: Most companies see digital transformation as an opportunity and are already dealing with the possibilities and tasks that lie ahead. However, the current crisis has shown that digitization is not happening quickly enough. Especially the SME sector has been hit hard by this backlog: Many SMEs were not prepared at all or poorly prepared for the sudden digital shift.
German SMEs underestimate digital transformation
Although many companies are already dealing with digitization, the topic is far from being present in all sectors: The level of digitization in German companies is particularly low in agriculture, gastronomy, and construction – this is the outcome of the study.
The larger and more profitable a company, the more likely it is to engage with the topic of digitization.
Managers in SMEs need to initiate comprehensive changes, now faster than ever: Important for the digital transformation are especially changes in thinking and working methods, in general organization, and the skills of employees.
About a quarter of respondents stated they are not engaging with the topic of digitization at all. This is mainly because they see no need or added value for their industry. However, the lack of need is likely to have changed significantly during the Corona crisis. Time constraints are also a common reason why digitization is not given attention.
Digital training is a good first step
Digitization has not yet been implemented widely in SMEs. However, digitization offers immense opportunities for SMEs: Communication, administration, and training are three good starting points for digitization. In the field of training, stronger digitization in SMEs has a double positive effect:
Firstly, the overall digitization of companies is promoted. Comprehensive digitization of the entire company is not feasible for many SMEs, and often (still) not necessary. Starting with training your employees can be a worthwhile launch point for further digitization.
This leads to a second advantage: When you offer learning concepts digitally, you directly introduce employees to digital innovations. Through digitization of training, your employees will gain important digital skills. They need these for later large-scale digitization. Moreover, digital training concepts not only provide them with enormous temporal flexibility – you, as the person responsible, will consequently have to plan for less expenditure on expensive in-person events.
Therefore, it is worthwhile for medium-sized companies to invest some time in the digitization of internal training now. In the long run, this investment pays off – temporally, financially, and in regard to the company’s own digitization status.
Reading tip: In the research project KMUdigital, we support selected SMEs with the blink.it learning platform in entering digital training. Read in the interview how digital training works practically in SMEs.
Are you looking for a quick entry into digital training – and at the same time a starting point to generally introduce your SME to digitization? Then start with Blended Learning, the combination of in-person and online phases. In our free guide, we explain how you can implement Blended Learning in just a few steps in your company.
