In Germany’s industrial SMEs, there is a marked discrepancy between the potential of new technologies and the resources available to managers and employees for exploiting this potential. This is the finding of corporate financier creditshelf’s ‘Industrial SMEs and Financing 4.0’ study, conducted in collaboration with Darmstadt University of Technology, for which some 250 board members and managing directors from medium-sized industrial companies were surveyed.44% of those surveyed stated that they have the production data for the products they supply at their disposal and that this data is used in service and maintenance contracts; this figure was just 34% last year. However, only 7% rated their digital know-how and in-house IT structure as “very good” (previous year: 19%).

A study by CapGemini confirms this assessment of the situation. According to the CapGemini study, while Germany scores above average compared with other countries when it comes to qualified employees, it needs to implement further training measures if it wants to increase productivity in the long term through new technologies.