New research from the International Trade Centre (ITC) indicates that small businesses leveraging digital technologies are experiencing significant performance improvements, with over 80% reporting increased sales and reduced costs. The findings, released today during the first-ever Global SME Ministerial Meeting in Johannesburg, highlight that digitally advanced small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are considerably more likely to achieve sales growth.

The ITC’s flagship report, “SME Competitiveness Outlook 2025: A Digital Transformation Roadmap,” identifies “expert users” of digital tools as those seeing the greatest benefits. These firms are nearly five times more likely to increase sales and 12 times more likely to reduce costs compared to their less digitally advanced counterparts. Additionally, expert users are twice as likely to innovate or enhance product and service quality.

Despite these advantages, the report cautions that many small firms struggle to integrate digital tools. Without urgent support, these businesses risk being left behind, which could deepen existing inequalities between businesses in developing and developed countries, as well as disparities within countries based on firm size and whether they are led by women or youth. This digital divide could hinder efforts to address environmental, social, and economic challenges.

The report, based on survey data from approximately 7,400 firms across 78 countries, introduces a new Enterprise Digital Transformation Index to assess firm-level digital maturity and identify areas requiring support.

The ITC research emphasizes that a firm’s ability to digitize is heavily influenced by its external environment. In digitally ready economies—characterized by access to infrastructure, skills, and supportive regulation—nearly 60% of firms are expert users of digital tools, a rate three times higher than in less prepared countries. In less supportive environments, large firms are 2.5 times more likely to be expert users than small ones, and male-led businesses are 1.5 times more likely to adopt these tools than female-led businesses. Youth-led firms also lag. These disparities underscore the need for tailored support for smaller firms and those led by women and youth, particularly in less digitally supportive settings.

The report also identifies three critical actions firms can take to advance their digital transformation, even in challenging conditions: improving financial management to offset high internet costs, training staff and strategic recruitment to build internal digital skills, and engaging with strong business support organizations for guidance and advocacy within complex digital ecosystems.

The “SME Competitiveness Outlook 2025” provides a Digital Transformation Action Plan, offering policy and business measures tailored to various country needs and circumstances. The ITC asserts that with appropriate support, all businesses, regardless of size, sector, or geographic location, can benefit from adopting digital tools to transform and scale their operations.