Trends of digitalization and adoption of big data & analytics among UK SMEs: Analysis and lessons drawn from a case study of 53 SMEs

Abstract

Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) now generate digital data at an unprecedented rate from online transactions, social media marketing and associated customer interactions, online product/service reviews and feedback, clinical diagnosis, Internet of Things (IoT) sensors, and production processes. All these forms of data can be transformed into monetary value if put into a proper data value chain. This requires both skills and IT investments for the longterm benefit of businesses. However, such spending is beyond the capacity of most SMEs due to their limited resources and restricted access to finance. This paper presents lessons learned from a case study of 53 UK SMEs, mostly from the West Midlands region of England, supported as part of a 3-year ERDF11European Regional Development Fund. project – Big Data Corridor22An ERDF funded 3-year project from 2016 to 2019: https://bigdatacorridor.com/. – in the areas of big data management, analytics and related IT issues. Based on our study's sample companies, several perspectives including digital technology trends, challenges facing the UK SMEs, and the state of their adoption in data analytics and big data, are presented.