Virgin Media Business have labelled this an ‘alarming divide’ between the promise of digital technologies and the scale of adoption by British businesses.

Director of SMB at Virgin Media Business, Mike Smith, said: “there is an alarming skills divide between those doing it well and those who are struggling to seize all the opportunities that digital can bring them.”

The report also found that 28 per cent of businesses said they didn’t have a website at all, and 13 per cent had no plans to build one.

Despite these results, investment from businesses in hardware (35 per cent), web development and skills development are set to increase.

And 28 per cent said developing their website was actually a priority; 10 per cent that training in digital skills was a priority, as well as 49 per cent who use LinkedIn to promote their business, despite a fear of a lack of knowledge in using social media effectively.

Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin Group, said: “At Virgin we have embraced new digital technologies and it has transformed the way we do business and how we engage with customers. 

“Social media has proved to be one of the most effective ways of reaching our customers and there is much more data available for us to find out what our customers want, and how best we can create new products and services to meet those needs.”

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