A “meaningful” national investment in digital skills could boost Ireland’s gross domestic product by €9.5 billion in the next three years, a new report fromDespite a major push towards digital transformation in the past couple of years, the majority of Irish SMEs said they were less than halfway on their digital journey, while only 55 per cent said they have their own website - significantly below the EU average.
The research also revealed a lack of knowledge on how best to proceed, with half of businesses saying they didn’t have the basic knowledge to identify the digital skills they needed to prioritise and invest in.Companies also reported challenges with getting the appropriately skilled staff, with just over a quarter of SMEs saying their staff had the skills needed in terms of basic digital capabilities, and 41 per cent of SMEs lacking an employee tasked with developing digital skills.
“The timing of this report could not be more important, the decisions that business leaders and policy stakeholders make about digital capabilities in the coming months and years will have profound implications for the long-term productivity and profitability of the SME sector, and for sustainable economic growth over the rest of the decade,” said, director for small business at Google.
There were some differences observed in the gender divide too, with female decision makers in SMEs more likely to use social media platforms, at 55 per cent versus 51 per cent of men, and women more likely to view digital content creation as a top priority for digital skills development.
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