Executive summary

The digitalisation of businesses has continued apace in recent years. Across sectors, firms of all sizes are increasingly equipping their staff with digital tools, although smaller firms do so more slowly, and some sectors do so more quickly. Digitalisation is multi-faceted as it involves the use of different technologies, serving different purposes, and requires a recombination of different strategic assets. Not all SMEs have the capacity to undertake this transformation. The smaller the firms, the less likely they are to adopt new digital practices, and the more likely they are to limit uptake to basic services. Overall, SME digitalisation is strongly related to the way value is created within the firm and the sector in which it operates.