{"id":18424,"date":"2021-06-03T09:32:08","date_gmt":"2021-06-03T08:32:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ounews.co\/?p=18424"},"modified":"2021-06-03T09:32:08","modified_gmt":"2021-06-03T08:32:08","slug":"smes-skills-required-to-implement-technology-into-businesses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/around-ou\/ou-speaks-out\/smes-skills-required-to-implement-technology-into-businesses\/","title":{"rendered":"77% of SME leaders lack skills to successfully implement new tech into their businesses"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Open University (OU) has jointly published a report with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bethebusiness.com\/\">Be the Business<\/a> called <a href=\"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/business\/skills-for-success\"><em>Skills for Success: supporting business leaders with digital adoption<\/em><\/a>. The research involved surveying 1,500 business leaders of SMEs from across the UK that have needed to make drastic changes to adapt to the challenges of the pandemic.<\/p>\n<p>The report found that Covid-19 has accelerated the adoption of collaboration and e-commerce software in more than half (54%) of UK SMEs. Of the business leaders who adopted new technology,<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>at least 85 per cent plan to continue using it at the same level once restrictions are lifted.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-18429 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/s4scover-002-e1622717495387-242x300.png\" alt=\"Woman holds papers with text reading 'Skills for Success. Supporting business leaders with digital adoption.'\" width=\"242\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/s4scover-002-e1622717495387-242x300.png 242w, https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/s4scover-002-e1622717495387.png 366w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 242px) 100vw, 242px\" \/>However, as many as 30% of business leaders surveyed said time and cost can make digital adoption too expensive and time consuming.<\/p>\n<p>Despite this, the report also found that even without dedicated resource, many small and medium-sized businesses have been flexible and resilient around digital skills and training, with 70% of business leaders expressing an interest in learning and development in the next 12 months.<\/p>\n<p>Two thirds of business leaders (67%) also say they are confident in adopting technology, although only half (54%) think they make good purchasing decisions about technology.<\/p>\n<p>One fifth (21%) of all business leaders don\u2019t think adopting technology could have a positive impact on their business at all.<\/p>\n<p>The <strong>Skills for Success report<\/strong> makes a number of key recommendations for business leaders looking to adopt technology successfully, including:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Identifying the right digital tools to tackle a company\u2019s biggest challenge<\/li>\n<li>Securing time and budget to enable an attitude of continuous learning<\/li>\n<li>Empowering SMEs to embrace a digital culture<\/li>\n<li>Recognising the power of a varied skillset in an organisation<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Jane Dickinson, Digital Skills Lead at The Open University said:<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>\u201cThe pandemic has forced many business leaders to rapidly reassess how they do business and the role of technology. Digital skills are now front and centre to current thinking across all sectors as businesses look to successfully adopt digital technologies.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cIf we are to make levelling up a success and assist SMEs in developing the skills they need, then it is essential that everyone plays their part.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cSMEs provide great environments for talented workers to fulfil their potential through lifelong learning. If business leaders can adopt a \u2018grow your own\u2019 approach, then it is a win-win-win for the employee, employer and the economy. But there are some barriers to overcome \u2013 not least the time and cost investment and our report reveals how SMEs can chart a path to grow the digital skills for the future.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><strong>Anthony Impey, Chief Executive at Be the Business said:<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>\u201cGreat leadership combined with productivity enhancing technology is at the heart of our most successful businesses.\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;But adopting new digital technology can be challenging, even for the most confident business leaders. That is why getting the right skills and training \u2013 focused on both digital and leadership capabilities, is essential.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The Skills for Success report makes a number of key recommendations for business leaders looking to adopt technology successfully.<\/p>\n<h2>Find out more<\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/business\/skills-for-success\">The full report can be downloaded here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Open University (OU) has jointly published a report with Be the Business called Skills for Success: supporting business leaders with digital adoption. The research involved surveying 1,500 business leaders of SMEs from across the UK that have needed to make drastic changes to adapt to the challenges of the pandemic. The report found that [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":18428,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[1525,1640],"class_list":["post-18424","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ou-speaks-out","tag-news-home","tag-ou-home"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18424","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18424"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18424\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18428"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18424"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18424"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18424"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}