In real estate 7 out of 10 SMEs seek financing (including alternative financing)

Qonto's research shows that 82% of Italian real estate SMEs regularly use at least one app to make online payments, manage banking, make investments, apply for loans or for other financial activities. This trend is more developed among small companies (those with 2 and 9 employees use it in 57% of cases) less so among large companies (those with 50-250 employees in 11% of cases).

In terms of the payment methods used by the SMEs that responded to the survey, it can be seen that 71% of respondents prefer to make 'physical' payments using credit and debit cards, while 23% choose the 'digital' route using apps and only 5% still rely on cash. Specifically, apps are most used by companies that are in business between 4 and 10 years, and over 20 years old (26 per cent), less so by start-ups (21 per cent) and SMEs with 10 to 20 years in business (16 per cent). Apps are most used in Central Italy (27 per cent), as well as in the South and Islands (26 per cent), less so in the North (19 per cent).

71 per cent of SMEs have at least one digital business account. Of these, almost 50 per cent are very young companies and start-ups, while for more mature companies (over 10 years old) the figure drops to around 20 per cent. However, the trend towards digitalisation is increasing, since among companies that only use traditional solutions (standard current accounts, etc.) almost 65 per cent say they are ready to adopt a digital account. The digital account is most developed among companies in Northern Italy (48 per cent of these say they use it), followed by Southern Italy and the islands (38 per cent) and finally the Centre (33 per cent).

While the majority of SMEs in Italy do not yet use multiple bank account aggregation solutions (30%), i.e. services that allow them to aggregate and manage several accounts and cards from a single platform, more than 45% of entrepreneurs say they are interested in adopting this type of platform in the future.

The most launched realities towards the adoption of fintech tools are start-ups (one in two of the respondents), with 10-49 employees (40% of the sample), particularly in Northern Italy (48%) and in the South (38%).

When asked about setting up a new company, entrepreneurs respond that they are very interested in using a fully digital service to manage the process (63 per cent of responses). Of these, more than 75 per cent are within very young companies within 3 years, with up to 9 employees (40 per cent) and located mainly in Northern (48 per cent) and Southern Italy (38 per cent).

Looking to the future, Italian SMEs turn out to be increasingly oriented towards using frontier technologies with the application of Artificial Intelligence for their business processes: more than half of the respondents say they have adopted an AI solution or plan to do so in the near future.
The most ready for change are start-ups (46 per cent of the sample surveyed) with 10-49 employees (40 per cent) followed by those with 10-20 years of experience (30 per cent), especially in Northern Italy (48 per cent), although in the rest of the country technological progress is on the rise: South and Islands with 38 per cent and Central Italy with 33 per cent.

"The data from our Observatory," comments Mariano Spalletti, managing director for Italy at Qonto, "show how Italian SMEs, even in the real estate sector, are resilient to change and are turning to innovative solutions to support the development and growth of their business. SMEs are exploring alternative financial solutions to traditional bank loans, turning to fintech for new financial management models, a clear sign of dynamism. The adoption of digital and fintech technologies, such as online payment apps and digital current accounts, is increasing, underlining the trend towards digitisation. It is crucial that we continue to support and incentivise these initiatives to promote the growth and competitiveness of our entrepreneurial fabric'.