UK SMEs Could Be Missing Out on Up to £25m Extra Revenue

Small- and medium-sized enterprises could be losing out on an average of an extra 21% in revenue per year due to lack of technology, according to recent research of 250 UK SME Chief Financial Officers (CFOs)***. The revelation comes from research commissioned by the all-in-one modern travel, corporate card, and expense management solution, TripActions. With small- and medium-sized businesses making up 99.8% of the United Kingdom business population¹, this additional revenue could generate a major boost to UK GDP.

A majority of CFO respondents (82%) say the pandemic delayed their adoption of new digital technologies. What’s more, more than nine in 10 (94%) agree that if their team fully adopted the digital technologies on offer, their business would be able to grow its revenue faster. TripActions’ research showed a number of factors are holding CFOs back from digital technology adoption; over half (54%) of CFO SMEs **** cited a lack of budget allocated towards adopting new technologies, and 41% cited their team’s lack of understanding of new technologies.

When asked about their priorities for the next 12 months, 41% of CFOs said streamlining their tech stacks was a priority, while more than one-third (36%) planned to implement a new corporate card programme. When it comes to the challenges respondents want to overcome with expense management, 45% of respondents mentioned they were keen to improve visibility of spend across the company, while 41% wanted to be able to better control budgets and ongoing expenses. If their technology budget for the next 12 months was doubled, more than half of CFOs (53%) would allocate the additional funding to security, while 52% would allocate it to data and analytics.

“SMEs risk missing out on huge revenue opportunities by not deploying new digital technologies,” says Michael Riegel, General Manager of TripActions, Europe. “In a time when budgets are tight, greater spend and expense management control can be the difference between a thriving and surviving business. Successful businesses will prioritise investment in digital transformation to unlock revenue growth, while boosting business productivity and saving costs.”

What’s Keeping CFOs Up at Night

Financial turbulence was front of mind for many, with more than half (52%) of CFOs ranking it as one of their biggest concerns. This was closely followed by meeting ESG requirements (46%) and addressing the skills gap in their team (36%). Fears of the Great Resignation seem to be fading, with only 28% of respondents ranking it in their top three concerns.

The research comes as TripActions Liquid, records more than 7.5x spend volume† growth in Q2 FY23† and Q2 FY23† gross business travel bookings are up more than 5x year-over-year. With travel, hybrid and flexible working showing no signs of slowing down, it’s clear there is strong appetite from CFOs for a streamlined process that can unlock employee productivity, support technology adoption, and ultimately super-charge revenue growth.