Today, alongside business representatives and trade bodies, we have published an open letter, calling on the Government to boost growth through better SME digitisation support.
Ahead of the upcoming Budget and Global Investment Summit, the UK has a chance to turbocharge its digitisation offer needed to drive investment.
AI is projected to boost UK GDP by up to 10.3% by 2030 and bring huge benefits for UK businesses with better productivity and efficiency gains. However, it will first be deployed through updates to business software already in use, meaning that if UK businesses are behind on basic digital adoption, they will soon be behind on AI adoption.
Better support for SME digitisation is something the Government can get started on right away with practical interventions. We propose:
• First, appoint a single Minister with responsibility for driving digitisation across the economy.
• Second, deliver a comprehensive digital adoption plan with clearly defined targets by 2030.
• Third, as previously advocated by techUK, the CBI and FSB, expand the Made Smarter Adoption programme to all sectors of the economy.
Industry is already leading the way in supporting SMEs to digitise and stand ready to support the Government in their mission to grow the economy, whilst placing digital technology at the heart of delivery on this.
Click below to read the letter ⬇
Thank you to our signatories:
Julian David, CEO, techUK
Naomi Weir, Director of Innovation, CBI (Confederation of British Industry)
Clare Elsby, Policy Champion for Innovation and Technology, FSB Westminster (Federation of Small Businesses)
Emma Jones, Founder, Enterprise Nation
Ciarán Quilty, Senior Vice President, International, Intuit
Steve Hare, CEO, Sage
Alexander von Schirmeister, Managing Director, UK and Emerging Markets, Xero
Neil Ross | Samiah Anderson | Mia Haffety