Could slow adoption of smart technology harm UK businesses?
Slow adoption of smart technology in the UK could cost the economy nearly £10 billion during the next year, a new study has suggested.
The report from Samsung UK – titled Smart Society Barometer – suggests a ‘smart deficit’ could exist among UK companies, potentially with an impact worth £5.6bn on the bottom line.
It comes after more than one in four businesses said they had lost out on new contracts or new clients because the right technology was not available.
The telecoms and utilities sectors were hit particularly hard, with 41% of firms within them saying they lost out on work.
Financial businesses followed closely behind as 37% of firms had missed out due to a lack of relevant technology.
According to Samsung, many business owners are aware of the benefits that smart technology can bring, with the majority of them believing it could save their business more than £80,000 a year.
This is a considerable sum of money, especially for smaller businesses where access to finance may be more limited.
One option to make the most of potential savings would be to consider business restructuring, as this should ultimately remove unnecessary spending and improve efficiency.
IT managers have pointed to a lack of investment and proper training as being the main reasons for the slow adoption of smart technology.
Only 11% of their annual budgets went on such technology, while one in five business owners believe the training process is too time-consuming to warrant it taking place.
An important part of the process revolves around understanding what businesses and consumers want, while also identifying potential barriers to their inception.
Rapid technological innovation is taking part across many of the major industries and this is leading to a wide range of new products and services.
However, the report also suggests that firms could be missing out as a result of taking too long to use new methods – potentially damaging both their firm and the economy in the long-term.
By Phil Smith