67% of businesses have basic level of digital tech

Some 67% of enterprises in Cyprus and 56% in the EU reached a basic level of use of digital technologies (digital intensity), according to Eurostat.

A basic level entails at least four of 12 selected digital technologies (such as using any AI technology or e-commerce sales account for at least 1% of total turnover).

It includes businesses with a low, high and very high level of the Digital Intensity Index (DII), excluding the very low level.

One of the EU Digital Compass targets is that more than 90% of SMEs should reach at least a basic level of digital intensity by 2030.

In Cyprus, 33% of enterprises had a very low level of digital intensity (44% EU average), 41% reached low levels of digital intensity (34% EU), 23% reached high digital intensity (19% EU), and 3% reached very high digital intensity (3% EU).

Of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), 66% in Cyprus and 55% in the EU reached a basic level of digital intensity compared with 96% of large enterprises in Cyprus and 88% in the EU.

Only 3% of SMEs in Cyprus (3% EU) reached a very high level of digital intensity, while 22% reached a high level (18% EU).

Most SMEs recorded low (41% in Cyprus, 34% EU) or very low (34% Cyprus, 45% EU) digital intensity levels.

The biggest proportion of enterprises reaching a very high level of the DII was in Finland, Denmark and Malta (all 10%) and Sweden (9%).

Meanwhile, Romania and Bulgaria were lagging, with around three-quarters of enterprises characterised by a very low digital intensity (77% and 74%, respectively).

The uptake of digital technologies by businesses has the potential to improve services and products and increase competitiveness.

The crisis caused by COVID-19 has also shown that digitalisation is crucial for improving the economic resilience of businesses.