4: Techno-societal Challenges and Actions for SMEs

This chapter is the first of three audience-specific chapters, and it is focused on small to medium enterprises (SMEs). The Government Commercial Function, as part of the Procurement Act 2023, states that ‘Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) accounted for 99.9% of the UK business population at the start of 2024, with 99.2% being small businesses with fewer than 50 employees’. SMEs play a substantial role in employment, revenue generation and innovation across the UK economy (DBT – Business population estimates for the UK and regions 2024, 2024).

This chapter moves the discourse from Chapter 2 forward to situate the challenges that SMEs face with technology. At the end of the chapter, we will suggest some actions for consideration within an SME. You may or may not have worked in or with an SME; however, you don’t have to be working in an SME to be aware of the techno-societal challenges affecting SMEs and the actions to consider for risk mitigation and increase confidence in technology-related decision-making.