DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION'S TRANSFORMATIVE ROLE IN ELEVATING OPERATIONAL EFFICIENCY AND COMPETITIVE RESILIENCE IN SMALL AND MEDIUM-SIZED ENTERPRISES (SMES)

Abstract

In the contemporary economic tapestry, SMEs embody dynamism and innovation, furnishing upwards of 70% of nascent employment and propelling GDP trajectories across developed and burgeoning economies alike, yet they confront existential perils from analog inertia, escalating cyber threats, skill chasms, and hyper-competitive digital natives. Digital transformation—conceptualized as the holistic reconfiguration of business models, processes, and cultures through technologies like IoT, big data, ERP systems, and machine learning—transcends mere digitization to forge resilient ecosystems. Theoretically buttressed by the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), which elucidates user adoption dynamics, and Dynamic Capabilities Theory positing technological assimilation as a fount of competitive renewal, digital transformation empowers SMEs to pivot from cost-centric survivalists to value-orchestrating vanguardists.