Two Big Barriers to SME Digitalization: Budget and Information Gaps

The period of physical distancing enforced by the Covid-19 outbreak has led to profound changes in certain aspects of business life, especially with respect to the transition from face-to-face to remote interactions as well as the increased difficulties regarding management of supply chains. Even though digitalization offers solutions to address such issues, various research studies, especially those aimed at SMEs, point out that the impact of the pandemic has varied depending on the circumstances of the company in question: while the pandemic triggered the initialization of digitalization processes in some cases, it sometimes caused the opposite effect, leading to contractions in new investments.

With this study on the private sector, INGEV assessed the digitalization level and needs of small- and medium-sized enterprises (“SMEs”) in Turkey. The study aimed to reveal the extent to which companies can access the benefits of digitalization, especially during the ongoing pandemic period. The findings on possible gaps and areas of improvement are discussed in the study report.

While the study showed that tools such as e-mail usage, corporate social media account ownership, and internet banking, which might be called “basic-level” tools, are prevalent among the host community SMEs in general, more advanced elements of digitalization such as automation or virtual assistants, which offered crucial increases in productivity, had a very limited recognition and prevalence.

Furthermore, in companies founded by Syrians, even the use of basic level tools is limited.

The research findings not only examine the underlying causes of these findings, but also offer recommendations on possible action steps. In order to overcome these obstacles, it is recommended that the private sector, sectoral associations, civil society organizations, and public institutions take joint action. You can access the reports on the research findings by clicking on the links below:

Click to For Host Community Enterprises
Click to For Enterprises Established by Syrians in Turkey

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