Polish SMEs are not short of applications. Rather, they lack the ability to translate technology into productivity. This is an important distinction, because by 2026, a company’s digitalisation will no longer simply mean having a website, cloud services or an office suite. It is measured by whether data flows through the organisation without manual re-entry, whether processes can be measured, and whether the system supports decision-making rather than merely recording the outcome.
In this respect, Poland remains below the European average. In 2025, 59 per cent of Polish SMEs reached the basic level of digital intensity, compared with 71.4 per cent in the EU. The EU’s target for 2030 exceeds 90 per cent. In this year’s report on Poland, the European Commission explicitly states that the country continues to lag behind in terms of business digitalisation and the uptake of advanced technologies.
Furthermore, the statistics cover enterprises employing at least 10 people. The smallest firms, where processes are usually the least formalised, are not included in this Eurostat measurement. The data therefore do not reflect the entire micro, small and medium-sized enterprise sector.
The gap does not start with the internet
Access to infrastructure is now a poor explanation for the differences. By 2025, 94 per cent of EU SMEs had broadband internet access. A much wider gap emerges where technology must already integrate with management processes.
ERP was used by 41 per cent of small enterprises in the EU and 89 per cent of large ones. For CRM, the figures were 25 per cent versus 65 per cent. Business Intelligence is the most telling indicator: 11 per cent of small firms and 69 per cent of large ones. This is not a difference in access to Excel or a server. It is a difference in the ability to organise data, standardise work and manage a business based on information drawn from multiple areas.
A similar pattern can be seen in the cloud. It is used by 52 per cent of SMEs and 85 per cent of large enterprises. When it comes to AI, the gap is even wider: 19 per cent versus 55 per cent. In Poland, only around 8 per cent of enterprises use AI, compared with an EU average of 20 per cent.
These figures challenge the convenient notion that the cost of technology is the primary barrier to digitalisation. The cloud, CRM and generative AI tools are now accessible even to companies with just a dozen or so employees. The greater challenge lies in creating an organisation capable of using them without adding yet another layer of chaos.
26 hours that weren’t recorded in any system
This is well illustrated by the case of the Italian manufacturing company SIGE, as described by the European Digital Innovation Hubs Network. Its technical department used technology but operated reactively. Orders came in through various channels; there was no transparency regarding the team’s workload, nor any effective monitoring of bottlenecks. Phone calls, face-to-face conversations and the duplication of information across platforms generated work, some of which did not even appear in the time records.
The intervention did not begin with the purchase of a complex system. The way orders were received and communication handled was streamlined, and the process change was combined with training and digital tools. The time spent on project management fell by 11 per cent. In a team of six, this freed up 26 hours a week.
This is a more useful measure of digital maturity than the number of licences. Technology is valuable when it eliminates unnecessary operations, shortens the delivery cycle or improves the quality of decisions.
AI only exacerbates the problem
The current wave of investment in AI highlights the importance of processes and skills even more clearly. A study by the European Investment Bank covering over 12,000 companies indicates that the use of AI is associated with a rise in labour productivity of around 4 per cent. However, the benefits are concentrated primarily in medium-sized and large enterprises. At the same time, the EIB highlights the importance of complementary investments: in software, data and training.
This is the fundamental difference between digitalisation and simply purchasing technology. A company can implement AI within a week. It is far more difficult to prepare the data, determine responsibility for the process, remove unnecessary steps and identify where automation actually delivers a return on investment.
Digital maturity therefore begins not with the choice of a system, but with an understanding of how the business really works. Without this, even the latest technology will mainly just automate the existing mess.
