Hungarian SMEs see the future in development

Digitalization brings increased efficiency and cost optimization

Almost all decision-makers participating in the survey (94%) consider technological innovations to be important to some extent, and every second company considers them to be particularly important for maintaining their competitiveness. They see their role primarily in increasing efficiency (61%), but according to every second company, they are also important in achieving good quality, cost optimization and speed.

Although most people place their own company on the same technological level as their competitors, with the exception of companies with a turnover of over HUF 500 million, there are many who feel that their situation is weaker than their competitors. This subjective assessment is confirmed by the fact that only 14 percent of respondents stated that their production processes are fully or fairly well automated. Half of the companies considered themselves to be weak in this regard, and in one-third of these, and in the case of companies with an annual turnover of less than HUF 300 million, 40 percent of them do not have their production automated at all.

Thus, the application of Industry 4.0 solutions also shows a limited picture: 67 percent of those surveyed do not use such technology at all. Those who do, primarily automate production or use IoT devices and industrial robots. Companies with a turnover of over HUF 500 million reported significantly better results in this regard. Half of the companies in this group are already using Industry 4.0 solutions, also mostly in the fields of automation and robotization.