A high number of small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs) in the UK are being prevented from embracing tech solutions that could improve their businesses by a lack of digital skills, according to a new report.

This report was produced by Be the Business and the Open University, and it is called ‘Skills for Success: supporting business leaders with digital adoption’. It saw the authors speak to the owners of 1,500 SMEs throughout the country, and 77% of them indicated that they haven’t embraced technologies that could help them in the wake of the pandemic because they don’t have the digital know-how.

Of the SME owners based in Scotland that took part in the report, only half stated that dealing with these gaps in digital skills were part of their plans for the upcoming year. The report did suggest, however, that it is lack of funds and time that are the primary reasons for this, rather than unwillingness amongst these business owners.

This was supported by the findings, with 30% of owners stating that digital training for employees was too time-consuming and costly. There is little doubt that it could benefit them in a number of ways, for example by making it possible to use digital accounting software – although hiring professional accountants in Goole or wherever they are based will also address that issue.

Not all of the news in the report was bad, however, as it showed that 54% of SMEs in the UK had started using digital tools for e-commerce and staff collaboration following the pandemic.