SME Digital Readiness Assessment (smedra)
Your Roadmap to a Smarter, Faster Business.
WHAT IS SMEDRA?
A practical starting point for your digital development
It is not a test, audit or certification. It is a practical way to identify what is already working, where there may be gaps and where focused support could help.
Takes approximately 15-20 minutes. No technical knowledge required.
WHY COMPLETE THE ASSESSMENT?
Clearer Priorities Before you Take Action
SMEDRA helps turn general digital questions into a more focused picture of your business, your current position and your possible next steps.
See where you Stand
Understand your current digital maturity across ten connected area of business activity.
Set
Practical Priorities
Highlight areas where focused
action could make the greatest
difference.
Prepare for
Support
Use your report and roadmap as the basis for a focused conversation with the E-DATA team.
HOW SMEDRA WOrks
From Assessment to Practical Next Steps
SMEDRA helps you move from a short self-assessment to a Digital Readiness Report, a tailored roadmap and relevant E-DATA support.
Complete the Assessment
Answer short questions across ten digital readiness domains, from strategy and staff skills to cybersecurity and sustainability.
Receive your Report and Roadmap
Your results are translated into a personalised Digital Readiness Report and a prioritised, step-by-step action plan.
Discuss E-DATA Support
Use your roadmap to identify which E-DATA workshops, conversations or practical supports are most relevant to your business needs.
THE SMEDRA DEEP-DIVE
Ten Domains. One Practical View of your Business.
SMEDRA explores ten connected areas of digital readiness that builds the picture behind your report and roadmap.
1. Digital
Strategy
Link digital activity to business goals, priorities and decision-making.
This domain explores whether your business has a clear digital direction and whether digital choices are connected to what the business is trying to achieve.
2. Financial Readiness
Explore how digital investment is planned, funded and prioritised.
This domain looks at the cost, value and timing of digital improvements, including confidence in investment decisions and awareness of funding, grants or external support.
3. Digital
Systems
Review whether systems are reliable, connected and able to support growth.
This domain examines whether everyday tools and systems work together or whether they create duplication, manual work and gaps in information.
4. Digital
Skills
Consider whether people have the skills and confidence to use digital tools.
This domain focuses on owners, managers and staff, and whether they have the guidance, confidence and support needed to use digital tools effectively.
5. Data and
AI
Look at how business information is collected, managed and used.
This domain explores whether useful information is stored reliably, used to support decisions and ready for analytics or Artificial Intelligence where appropriate.
6. Customer Engagement
Explore how customers find, contact, buy from and stay connected with you.
This domain considers websites, social media, email, Customer Relationship Management systems and other channels that shape the customer journey.
7. Operations and Automation
Identify where digital tools could reduce manual work, duplication, errors and delays.
This domain looks for practical opportunities to simplify repeated tasks, reduce rework and improve day-to-day operations without assuming complex automation.
8. Managing
Change
Consider how people respond to digital
change and what support helps adoption.
This domain explores communication, involvement, openness
to change and the practical barriers that
can slow down adoption of new tools or ways
of working.
9. Sustainability
Explore how digital tools can reduce waste,
energy use,
travel or paper.
This domain looks at whether digital choices support environmental goals and whether sustainability is considered when digital improvements are planned.
10. Digital Compliance
Review cybersecurity, data protection and responsible digital practices.
This domain checks whether basic protections, responsible data practices and awareness of Artificial Intelligence responsibilities are in place.
WHAT YOU RECEIVE
What your Report and Roadmap Will Show
SMEDRA gives you a personalised report and a roadmap that supports practical discussion and planning.
YOUR DIGITAL READINESS REPORT YOUR CUSTOMISED ROADMAP
A Clear Picture of your Current Position
Your report provides a practical summary of your assessment results.
– Your overall digital maturity position
– Your results across the ten domains
– Areas of relative strength and areas for attention
– Suggested priorities for discussion with the E-DATA team
A Focused Route for Next
Steps
Your roadmap translates your assessment results into a focused action plan.
– What to focus on first
– Which actions are realistic in the next 3 to 6 months
– Which workshops or supports may be most relevant
– Where small changes could deliver practical value
WORKSHOPS AND SUPPORT
Workshops Before and After your Roadmap
E-DATA workshops are part of the support journey. They can help SMEs prepare for the SME Digital Readiness Assessment (SMEDRA), build awareness of common digital challenges and connect roadmap priorities to relevant workshops, conversations and hands-on guidance. Expand this section to explore the current workshop themes.
Before SMEDRA. After SMEDRA.
Workshops can support SMEs at different points in the SMEDRA journey. Before completing the assessment, they can help businesses explore a topic, recognise issues in their own operations and build confidence. After SMEDRA, the Digital Readiness Report and Roadmap can help identify which E-DATA funded workshops, practical supports or wider E-DATA pathways are most relevant to the business.
Before SMEDRA
– Build awareness of digital opportunities
– Recognise where common challenges may apply to your business
– Prepare more useful answers for the assessment
– See practical tools and examples in context
After SMEDRA
– Connect roadmap priorities to relevant workshops
– Build skills in specific areas
– Apply practical tools to real business challenges
– Move into other E-DATA supports where appropriate
– Turn assessment findings into focused action
Lean and waste reduction customer acquisition
Introduction to Lean Manufacturing and Waste Reduction Strategies
Learn how to reduce waste, improve quality and streamline everyday processes using practical Lean principles.
How this Supports your Roadmap
This workshop can help SMEs prepare for SMEDRA by recognising where time, effort or resources may be lost in current operations. After SMEDRA, it can support roadmap actions linked to operational efficiency, waste reduction, process improvement and better use of resources.
Building a Customer Acquisition System
Design a practical system for attracting, following up with and converting customers.
How this Supports your Roadmap
This workshop can help SMEs think about customer journeys before the assessment. After SMEDRA, it can support roadmap actions linked to customer engagement, digital marketing, follow-up processes and the responsible use of data or Artificial Intelligence in customer acquisition.
crm and data continuous improvement
Using CRM and Data to Make Better Decisions
Use customer and marketing information more clearly to support follow-up, planning and decision-making.
How this Supports your Roadmap
This workshop can help SMEs prepare by thinking about what customer information they already hold and how it is stored, used and updated. After SMEDRA, it can support roadmap actions linked to data quality, customer follow-up, reporting, CRM use and decision-making.
Continuous Improvement with Lean
Build a habit of reviewing, improving and simplifying work over time.
How this Supports your Roadmap
This workshop can support SMEs whose roadmap identifies manual processes, repeated errors, delays or unclear workflows. It keeps the focus on practical improvement without implying that the business needs complex automation or major technology investment.
Before you start
No Technical Knowledge Required
The most useful answers are those that describe how your business works today. You may find it useful to think about your current tools, customer information, enquiries, operations, manual work, staff confidence and previous digital improvements.
- Think about where manual work or duplication still happens
- Consider whether staff feel confident using digital tools
- Reflect on what currently makes digital change difficult