Survey by reichelt elektronik shows: small companies take a pragmatic approach to digitalization
There are approximately 2.4 million small businesses (up to 50 employees) in Germany. Many of these companies – whether they are family-run businesses or start-ups – come from a variety of industries and thus represent a diverse spectrum of German entrepreneurship. How do they feel about digitalization? reichelt elektronik surveyed 500 of these companies in Germany to get a feel for the atmosphere among these businesses.
Basics are needed: communication, home office and more
Among German small businesses today, there are hardly any that don’t use digital tools. The most important aspect to these companies is communication solutions: external communication via mail and social media channels (39%) or exchanges internally via messengers and other services (35%). And the digital wish list of small businesses is also all about communication. Solutions for smart telephony in particular are in high demand (20%).
Flexibility and spatial independence are also critical to success for small businesses. Thirty-one percent have already invested in home-office-enabling solutions to granting access to corporate data such as a VPNs, and another 16% would like to see this for their company. More than a third of small businesses (36%) even work with a cloud solution.
This is why small businesses go digital
It is striking that although small companies use a wealth of digital tools and offerings, there are none that have become established in all companies yet. They pragmatically rely on individual solutions according to their needs.
At the same time, many companies (74%) are responding to changes in customer behavior. Above all, they want more information about products (53%), faster delivery of items and services (52%), and faster responses to inquiries (57%). Digitalization helps companies in meeting these demands. With this background, 73% of small businesses say digitalization has kept them competitive.
Diverse corporate cultures with diverse challenges
Overall, 21 percent of small companies consider their digitalization measures to be very advanced and another 42 to be somewhat advanced. Only 11 percent think they are lagging behind in terms of digitalization. A closer look reveals that this overall positive result should be further differentiated.
Very small companies (up to 10 employees) feel less successful. Among them, only 65 percent agree that they have kept pace with digitalization, and 64 percent of slightly larger companies (11-50 employees) confirm this. Dissatisfaction prevails among the smallest companies because the potential for digitalization is being underestimated (31%), while an additional 39 percent report of a lack of interest or budget (32%). In contrast, a lack of skilled staff (41%) and a lack of interest (21%) are causing problems for slightly larger companies (11-50 employees).
“We are finding that small businesses are embracing digitalization for a variety of reasons, using different digital tools depending on what works best for them,” comments Ulf Timmermann, CEO at reichelt elektronik. “At reichelt elektronik, we have also taken the digitalization of our warehouses into our own hands and can understand their pragmatic approach. Digitalization is an ongoing process, so as companies and processes change and grow, it makes sense or is necessary to continuously adapt or gradually increase the level of digitalization.”
Survey: The survey was conducted in March 2023 by the international survey institute OnePoll. 500 German companies with up to 50 employees were surveyed.
Images: reichelt elektronik, Adobe Stock
