Qonto, Europe’s leading business finance management solution, announces the fourth edition of its Observatory on Small and Medium Enterprises data. The survey, which involved realities distributed throughout Italy and operating in different sectors, aimed to investigate the state of digitalization of SMEs, analyzing their behaviour towards the incentives provided by the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR), training and the skills most in demand on the market.
“The PNRR is proving to be a significant opportunity for many Italian companies, which, as the data from our Observatory show, are using them to digitize their business and prove to be increasingly competitive on the market. These aspects of innovation must necessarily go hand in hand with the availability of profiles that boast specific and continuously updated training, especially now that the adoption of Artificial Intelligence tools is so widespread and crucial,” comments Mariano Spalletti, Country Director for Italy at Qonto. “As Qonto, we are at the forefront in supporting companies with new tools designed for their business needs, enabling entrepreneurs and managers to focus on the evolution of their business through the digitization of various daily activities.
Digital and PNRR: 55% of SMEs take advantage of incentives
The PNRR, organized in 6 missions, will provide Italy with 191.5 billion in funds for innovation and digitalization, ecological transition and social inclusion by 2026. To date, Italy has received almost EUR 67 billion from the EU to finance it. Qonto investigated how SMEs have invested or intend to invest the funds dedicated to them and, in particular, how these can concretely contribute to accelerating the digitalization process of the country’s entrepreneurial fabric.
Fifty-five per cent of the SMEs surveyed said they had already used the incentives provided by the Plan, a figure that shows significant growth compared to 2022 (43%) among those who have yet to make use of the funds. However, almost 70% intend to make use of them during 2023. Regarding the use of the funds, 82% said they would use the incentives to invest in their companies digitalization and technological innovation. In particular, the survey shows that those who have already adhered to the incentives continue to be mostly the numerically larger SMEs: among companies with 50 to 250 employees, 59% have already made use of them, up from 56% in 2022, while among micro-enterprises with up to 10 employees, only one in four (25%) has already taken action to use the funds.
SMEs and digitalization: 66% need profiles with specific skills
Only 35% of the SMEs surveyed said they had used and intended to use funds such as the React-Eu to support SMEs and professionals against high bills, which for Italy has an availability of 14.4 billion. Interestingly, the percentage rises among micro-enterprises with up to 10 employees (57%). Commitment to digitalization implies the availability of trained and competent resources, with 66% stating that they need profiles with specific expertise for their company, but more than one in two companies (56.5%) find it difficult to find these profiles.
Digitalization and innovation go hand in hand, and the drive towards technological innovation is also confirmed by the 43% of respondents who say they have adopted or intend to adopt Artificial Intelligence technologies in their company soon. Finally, the Qonto survey reveals that over 77% of respondents regularly use at least one app for payments, banking, investments, loans, or other financial activities in their personal or professional life. 72% of SMEs prefer to make payments with credit and debit cards, 22.5% rely on app-based payments and only 5.5% use cash. 62% of companies have at least one digital account; between them, almost 46% are very young companies (less than three years old) or start-ups. Among those using only traditional solutions, about 56% say they are ready to adopt a digital account.
