Digital awareness of SMEs: A qualitative analysis

Industry 4.0, which is on the agenda of both academia and companies operating in the field, has been the subject of many researches since the day it was announced, but still maintains its recency as a study subject. With the extensive usage of Industry 4.0 technologies by the developed countries of the world, this concept has turned into a trend that has become almost a necessity to be followed by the rest of the world. At this stage, the way for companies to survive in local and global competition is through their digital transformation, and in order to realize this transformation, companies need to have high digital awareness. In this study, digital awareness and perceptions of Industry 4.0 technologies of managers of SMEs in Ankara operating in the IT sector, which is the locomotive of digital transformation in Ankara was analyzed within the framework of a qualitative research design, using the data from in-depth interviews made with 20 interviewees. According to the results of the research, participants perceive digitalization and Industry 4.0 as different but related concepts. There are different views on new generation technologies, even some participants consider the technologies as a marketing tool, digital transformation plays an active role in the outsourcing decisions of companies, the problems that arise despite its flexibility the time and cost savings these technologies provide to companies. The main disadvantages consists of security problems and lack of qualified employees. While additional research is needed to further understand the digital awareness of companies to reveal more comprehensive results. It is hoped that the results of this study will benefit the actors of the relevant sectors and the researchers working in this field. Key Words: digitalization, digital awareness, Industry 4.0 applications, SMEs techno-business