Qonto, one of Europe’s leading business finance management solutions for SMEs and freelancers, has published its comprehensive analysis of Digital Transformation across European small and medium businesses.
The report, created in collaboration with Appinio, surveyed 1,600 senior decision-makers across France, Germany, Italy and Spain in August 2025. As European businesses race to remain competitive in an increasingly digital economy, the study uncovers a striking paradox that could threaten the future of Europe’s economic backbone: while 46% of European SMEs have embraced AI tools like ChatGPT, fundamental business systems remain dramatically underadopted, with only 24% using digital accounting and 22% implementing video-conferencing such as Zoom.
This reveals nearly half of Europe’s 25 million SMEs are prioritising experimental AI over crucial digital foundations, potentially leaving them vulnerable as competitors with stronger digital infrastructure gain decisive market advantages.
While 92% of the European SMEs surveyed acknowledge digitalisation and AI as relevant, only 62% treat it as ‘absolutely crucial’ – creating a dangerous complacency gap. A third of businesses (38%) view Digital Transformation as merely ‘somewhat important’, representing approximately 9.5 million European SMEs that could be vulnerable to competitive displacement. Spain leads European digital conviction with 69% rating digitalisation as crucial, while France shows the largest commitment deficit at just 52% – a 17-point gap that could prove economically costly as digital-first competitors gain market share.
