Almost half of Italian businesses lack basic technology skills, according to Microsoft Italy’s new Next Generation DigITALY study, which was developed by The European House – Ambrosetti (TEHA).

As part of its research, TEHA surveyed 130 companies to understand the biggest obstacles to adopting digital technologies in Italy and to help plan the country’s digitisation strategy. TEHA found that 52 per cent of the surveyed companies lack a digital infrastructure, while 48 per cent do not have basic technological skills.

Therefore, Microsoft will help Italian companies to upskill employees and integrate digital technologies into their businesses. This will advance Italy’s National Recovery and Resilience plan, which aims to teach 80 per cent of the population basic digital skills by 2030.

The study also found that 85 per cent of companies believe that planned net revenues for risk (PNRR) would help them to accelerate their digitisation.  

“DigITALY shows a delay in digitisation for Italy in comparison to its European competitors in at least three areas,” said Valerio De Molli, managing partner and CEO of TEHA. “The first is that of digital skills, where the country emerges as one of the weakest in Europe, ranking third from last in the European Union in the digital human capital component of the Digital Economy Society Index of the European Commission.

“The second relates to the private ICT sector, which is more fragmented and characterised by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that are poorly equipped for international growth and the attractiveness of talents. Finally, Italy shows a low level of digital integration in the production sector, especially for SMEs. In fact, the largest companies in the country have already filled the digital gap with the help of PNRRs and smaller companies show levels of digital adoption too low compared to the international competitive landscape.”

Read more about the Next Generation DigITALY study.

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