Digital Skills for SMEs: get inspired now!

Abstract

One of the objectives of the Grand Coalition for Digital Jobs is to contribute to raising the level of digital skills in the workforce and in particular in SMEs, in order to prepare them for the transformation of their businesses into the digital era. The main drivers for SMEs wanting to embrace the digital economy are internal efficiencies, cost reductions, better collaboration and new product and service offerings. Investing in the digitalisation of their business is vital for SMEs; this ultimately generates higher returns than any other forms of capital investment. Europe therefore needs to ensure that SMEs are equipped with the necessary digital skills to enable them to transform. This booklet aims to serve as a source of inspiration for SMEs that want to embrace digitalisation and acquire new skills. It contains a collection of case studies of SMEs that were able to transform their business with digital technologies as a result of gaining experience from a variety of development programmes and other external interventions. In order to present a sample that is representative of thousands of similar cases across Europe, several sectors and countries are covered. SMEs share their stories and experience of their digital transformation journeys. Each story focuses not only on the benefits and the results achieved but also on the characteristics of the intervention that made the digitalisation possible. Such interventions typically involved participation in development programmes available to SMEs in the EU, such as training courses offered by universities and public agencies. The authors looked at programmes managed by educational institutions and at market driven interventions. A key finding explained is the role played by small and medium sized digital technology providers in enabling the digital transformation of other SMEs. This typically occurs through a direct SME to SME interaction taking place, and without public support. The main take away from this analysis is that European SME digital enablers are key enablers and assets to be exploited for the digitalisation of the larger community of SMEs in Europe