London SMEs committing over half of annual revenue to tech investment, data reveals
London’s small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are ramping up their tech budgets, allocating over half of their annual revenue to technology investments, according to a report by Barclays.
In the capital, SMEs are directing an average of 54 per cent of their annual revenue to technology investments, such as data analytics and artificial intelligence tools, as they try to counter rising costs and climbing interest rates by increasing productivity.
Colin O’Flaherty, head of SME at Barclaycard Payments, said it is “promising” to see SMEs investing in technology to “future-proof” their operations.
The retail sector was especially keen to embrace new technologies, with two-thirds of SMEs in the capital doing so, including by establishing specific tech teams.
“Retail SMEs in particular have displayed a remarkable agility in adapting to evolving consumer behaviours by adopting emerging technologies – setting the stage for a brighter year ahead,” O’Flaherty said.
Much of the increase in tech spending is driven by the fact that consumers are predominantly moving to shop online.
Barclays’ research revealed that 70 per cent of consumers use the internet to guide their shopping decisions, propelling a major surge in online grocery website traffic (54 per cent) and in non-grocery site visits (42 per cent).