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Digitalization of businesses in Italy: data, delays, and concrete opportunities

14
Jan

The digitalization of businesses in Italy is growing, but not enough to close the competitive gap with other European countries. The latest data show an overall acceleration, but also structural limitations that continue to penalize the Italian productive system, especially small and medium-sized enterprises. In this scenario, the quality of digital infrastructures and document management processes becomes a decisive factor in turning digital growth into real productivity.

According to the SME Digital Growth Index 2025 by Webidoo Insights Lab, Italy ranks 21st out of 27 EU countries. The analysis evaluates four key dimensions of SME digitalization: digital infrastructures, skills, research and innovation, and e-commerce. The resulting picture highlights progress, but also a significant distance from the European average.

Digitalization of European businesses: the average index increases

The digitalization of businesses in Italy is part of an overall positive European context. The average digitalization index of EU SMEs reaches 42.9% in 2025, up from 40.2% in 2024. However, improvement is not uniform. Some countries continue to show significant structural difficulties, such as Slovakia (33.1%), Bulgaria (26.6%), and Romania (26.4%).

In this context, Italy records a digitalization index of 38.5%, below the European average, confirming growth that is still insufficient compared to its main competitors.

The leading countries in digitalization

At the top of the ranking are Denmark (66.4%), Malta (63.1%), and the Netherlands (59.9%). These countries show high and well-balanced levels across all analyzed dimensions: digital presence, e-commerce, technological infrastructures, innovation, and skills.

Denmark, in particular, stands out for technological infrastructures (77.95%) and for the spread of digital skills (63.38%), demonstrating how the integration of technology, people, and processes is the key to truly effective digitalization.

Alongside the established leaders, several countries show significant improvements in 2025: Austria (+6.1%), Portugal (+4.8%), Finland (+4.4%), Ireland (+4.1%), and Lithuania (+4%). By contrast, only Spain (-0.1%) and Sweden (-1.5%) perform worse than in 2024.

Italy: slow progress and loss of positions

In the European ranking, the digitalization of businesses in Italy reaches a score of 38.5% in 2025, up from 36.1% in 2024. Despite the improvement, Italy drops in the ranking, moving from 19th to 21st place, remaining below the EU average.

Italian performance is mainly supported by digital infrastructures, which reach an index of 54.4%, higher than the European average of 50.3%, with an increase of over 4% in a single year. Digital commerce also shows signs of strengthening, with a value of 19.9% and growth of 3.5%.

Two fundamental areas remain critical compared to other countries: research and innovation (29.2%) and digital skills (29.1%), against an EU average of 39.4%. Digital skills, in particular, record an annual decline of 0.8%, highlighting a structural limitation in the ability of SMEs to absorb and leverage available technologies.

As the research notes: “The Italian profile shows an unbalanced digital transformation: infrastructures are growing faster than organizational and human absorption capacity, limiting the impact of digital technologies on SME productivity and innovation.”

From technological digitalization to process digitalization

The data confirm that the digitalization of businesses in Italy cannot be limited to the adoption of infrastructures alone. Without tools that genuinely improve document management, collaboration, data security, and compliance, digitalization remains an underutilized investment.

It is in this context that platforms such as Certiblok address a concrete need of SMEs: transforming digital infrastructure into operational value. Through decentralized cloud-based document management, Document Relationship Management (DRM®), Audit Rooms, Edit Rooms, and secure file sharing, companies can bridge the gap between available technology and organizational capability.

Security, compliance, and competitiveness: the real leap forward

The growth of digital infrastructures in Italy shows that technology is not lacking. What is often missing is a structured, secure, and traceable document management approach, especially in regulated environments, audit processes, certifications, and collaboration with external partners.

Investing in solutions that integrate security, document governance, and collaboration enables Italian SMEs to address the lag in digital skills, reduce operational risks, and improve productivity, reliability, and competitiveness in European markets.

Book your free demo today: we will show you how to strengthen confidentiality, speed up workflows, and increase document control with a platform designed for security and collaboration. You can contact us directly at commerciale@certiblok.com or fill out the contact form to schedule a time slot.

You can also discover all the benefits of the platform directly on the Certiblok features page or explore practical examples and case studies on our official blog.

Gianluigi Michelotto Co Founder Certiblok
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