Small-and-medium UK businesses are being held back by technophobia, experts have warned.

Fear of new technologies has hampered the progress of SMEs, even after the proliferation of digitisation brought on by the pandemic and remote working.

Experts from telephone systems.cloud have warned that the future of many SMEs is at risk if they do not keep up with accelerated technological change across the wider business sector.

They forewarn that thousands of small-and-medium sized UK businesses are struggling to adapt to these changes, resulting in wider business problems for these organisations.

Now, experts are encouraging SMEs to address their technophobia and adopt new innovations such as cloud and Voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP) technologies.

Those failing to evolve with the digital landscape are losing out on valuable business because through a fear of change and reliance on outdated systems.

Communications experts say that fear of new technology is still deeply rooted in many leaders who are deterred by a lack of in-house tech knowledge and resistance to intimidating change.

The tech skills shortage is also aggravating the issue, with research showing that digital adoption has been delayed because of a lack of available tech skills. Further, the shortage of tech talent is leading to developer burnout, making it more difficult to bring in new technology as backlogs hamper the current workforce.

Despite this, experts have pushed for digital adoption and transformation efforts to not be put on the back burner.

Juliet Moran, from TelephoneSystems.Cloud said: “Technology may seem scary, but decisions should never be based on what leaders are comfortable with.

“Rather, the decision to change should be based on what will most benefit a company, aka the effectiveness of a system for operations, efficiency, and profitability.

“The business owners that have seen earlier technological opportunities have had the advantage of accessible and streamlined systems and are now taking huge strides in the post covid climate.”

The business world drastically changed during the pandemic and traditional working methods were questioned more than ever when lockdowns left millions without sufficient technology or software to work away from the office.

Transforming the workplace with new technology was shown to be more essential than ever.

Moran continued on the effect of new technology: “It can be used for many benefits, including expanding customer base, improving internal and external services, minimising admin, optimising markets, and streamlining communication threads.

“There was once a time when people only shopped on the high street and watched films on video cassettes, but with time these industries have transformed, and the companies that didn’t adapt and embrace the change were left behind.”

Still, recent research has revealed that 48% of SME leaders in the UK still lack a tech investment strategy. Meanwhile, over 50% of SMEs have accelerated their digital transformation since the pandemic, and those failing to adapt are now falling behind.

“This will be the case for SMEs failing to keep up because new technology has been proven to revolutionise business operations,” Moran commented.

“Being on the wrong side of the digital divide will only continue to have negative implications for businesses as success continues to balance on their ability to modernise.”

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The success of markets like cloud computing – the market of which reached almost £400 billion in 2022 – has demonstrated that technology can be used within businesses to reduce costs while improving overall efficiency and productivity.

Despite more businesses realising these technologies can often make work easier and more cost-effective, there are still myths permeating traditional, critiquing cloud computing as too complex and expensive.

This fear of change and lack of technical knowledge is now incredibly destructive for businesses – making the wrong move can lead to companies falling behind or building technical debt.

With ever-transforming business world with new adaptive technologies, it is important businesses stay agile and open to change