6 out of 10 SMEs "Do Not Know Much About Smart Work"

Korea Federation of SMEs Announces Survey Results on Smart Work Implementation Status in Small and Medium Enterprises

Smart Working Center. Photo by Asia Economy DB

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heeyoon] Although smart work such as telecommuting and video conferencing has expanded recently due to the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), a survey found that many small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are not well aware of smart work.

The Korea Federation of SMEs announced the results of a survey on the status of smart work implementation among 301 SMEs nationwide on the 10th.

The survey results showed the awareness of smart work among SMEs as follows: ▲Never heard of it 59.5%, ▲Only heard the name 17.6%, ▲Roughly know about it 17.3%, ▲Know in detail 5.6%. This means that more than half of SMEs either do not know or are not familiar with smart work at all.

The experience of using smart work among SMEs was ▲No experience 68.1%, ▲Have experience 31.9%, indicating that more than two-thirds of SMEs have no experience utilizing smart work.

Among the companies that responded they have experience (31.9%), the types of smart work used were ▲Mobile (on-the-go) work 84.4%, ▲Video and video conferencing 51.0%, ▲Telecommuting 28.1%, ▲Cloud computing 26.0%, in that order.

The effect of using smart work was found to help improve productivity and work efficiency in almost all (92.7%) SMEs (▲Very helpful 27.1%, ▲Somewhat helpful 65.6%).

Smart Work Awareness Graph. Photo by Jungso Gieop Junganghoe

The reasons SMEs do not utilize smart work were identified as ▲Not applicable due to job characteristics 30.6%, ▲Financial burden 28.9%, ▲Adaptation burden to new work methods 19.3%, ▲Face-to-face centered organizational culture 14.6%, ▲Lack of knowledge on how to use it 13.6%, in that order.

As support measures needed for SMEs to establish smart work, they cited ▲Financial support 92.0%, ▲Consulting support 47.2%, ▲Smart work education support 31.9%.

Although not many companies planned to use smart work within the next two years (Usage plan ▲Yes 44.5%, ▲No 55.5%), when support from the government or large corporations was considered, ▲Yes 54.2%, ▲No 45.8%, showing a 9.7% increase in willingness to use it.

Among the 134 companies that answered they have the intention to use it (44.5%), the intended types of use were ▲Mobile (on-the-go) work 67.2%, ▲Video and video conferencing 38.1%, ▲Telecommuting 26.1%, ▲Cloud computing 26.1%, indicating that the intention to use smart work related to outside sales and mobile work, which are directly connected to SME sales channels, was the highest.

Jung Wookjo, Head of the Innovation Growth Division at the Korea Federation of SMEs, said, “Based on the results of this survey, we will establish close cooperative relationships with the government and large corporations to resolve difficulties in building smart work for SMEs through financial and consulting support, and propose and promote more effective policies and projects.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.