Small Businesses Go Digital

Key takeaways

• Digitalization is associated with growth. Businesses using a large number of digital tools are significantly more likely to report recent revenue growth.
• More money, more digitalization. Businesses that plan to invest in digital tools in the next year are more likely to have experienced revenue growth.
• Digital competency matters. Small businesses of all sizes say digital skills related to documents, spreadsheets, online advertising, and web design, for example, are important—even essential—for their business.
• Time & knowledge stand in the way. Small businesses cite time and the learning curve as the biggest barriers to adopting digital tools.
• Re-training workers is hard. Small business owners and managers say it is difficult to re-train existing staff with new digital skills.
• Fewer employees mean slower adoption. Microbusinesses are less likely to be early adopters of digital tools and more likely to be conservative in digital tool adoption compared to businesses with more than 10 employees.