SME study reveals:
Digitalization is worth it

What benefits does digitalization offer SMEs? The Handelsblatt Research Institute investigated this question on behalf of Telekom in the study “Digital Dividends.” The survey of around 1,000 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) delivered an emphatic verdict:

38 percent of businesses are already benefiting from digitalization. For them, the advantages already outstrip the cost of the digitalization projects implemented to date. For another 30 percent of those surveyed, the benefits and costs are evenly balanced. Only just under one in five businesses stated that the investment has not yet yielded financial advantages. But short-term benefits are not necessarily expected, because over half of the businesses expect to enjoy advantages more in the medium to long term.

The aims of businesses are clear: Higher profit and revenue were the motive for digitalization projects for over half of them, along with acquiring new customers (51.2 percent) and being able to respond faster to customer inquiries (50.7 percent). Whereas only 30.6 percent want to cut back on staffing.

Being able to reach customers over new channels of communication is also an important aspect of the digital transformation and a major cost factor for 40.3 percent of businesses, as are safety precautions to prevent cyber attacks (39.9 percent).

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