AROUND 48 per cent of small businesses in Scotland lack the full range of basic digital skills that could help them improve productivity and save costs, a survey shows.
The Bank of Scotland Business Digital Index 2017 survey shows 56 per cent of such firms north of the Border do not have their own website, and only 44 per cent use social media.
Around 18 per cent of Scottish SMEs say trading overseas is one of the key benefits of being online.
Bank of Scotland says the index is the largest study of its kind into the digital capabilities of small businesses and charities.
In Scotland, 71 per cent of small businesses reported saving time from being online, and 56 per cent said they had saved on costs.
Barriers holding Scottish firms back from doing more online include concerns about security, cited by 23 per cent of respondents, and a lack of staff with digital skills, mentioned by 22 per cent of firms.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here