Digital technology has enabled businesses to continue trading in the most difficult of circumstances. As the UK economy recovers and reopens, increasing the rate of digital adoption by SMEs will be vital.
Although Britain is a world-leader in innovation, too often best practices are not spreading to all SMEs. In Upgrade, we argue that poor take-up of digital technologies by small businesses is a central element in our pre-COVID productivity crisis, and that increasing uptake will be vital to the economic recovery. We also quantify the £16.6bn cost to the UK economy of this digital gap and show what closing that gap would mean in terms of increased productivity.