The ‘missing middle’ of businesses need more support to succeed, by Nick Freer

Last month, business support group Elevator launched its inaugural Scottish SME Survey to analyse what it believes to be the “missing middle” in growth support, and to seek to better understand what Scotland’s SMEs need to thrive. 

Commenting at the time, Elevator’s CEO Rachel Ross said: “In Scotland, we are very good at supporting early stage startups at one end of the spectrum, and scale-up companies at the other end, but where we could be missing a trick is around what has been described as the ‘missing middle’.  We know that SMEs are the lifeblood of the Scottish economy, they consistently face economic and business challenges, so the more we can help them to grow the more we will all benefit as a nation.” 

The Scottish Government’s Businesses in Scotland report in November 2024 revealed that there were an estimated 355,805 SMEs operating in Scotland as of March 2024, accounting for approximately 42 per cent of employment across the private sector as a whole.  

Having supported over 3,500 SMEs over the last few years, few are better placed to gauge the sentiment of our business leaders than Elevator, and as an agency we’re pleased to be working with CEO Ross and her team on the survey.  

The survey incorporates questions around access to finance, government support, people talent and skills, community wealth building, technology investment and AI, export plans, and views on the macroeconomic environment.  

When we look at an area like technology, we know digitalisation can unlock SME competitiveness, through improving efficiencies and accessing new markets.  And the expectation is that AI will be prevalent in Elevator’s survey findings.  

Speaking to tech consulting and implementation group ClearSky Logic last week, CEO Darren Auld said his company’s work with SMEs through to larger corporates with revenue in excess of £100 million indicates that Elevator is “spot on” about Scotland’s so-called “missing middle”.  

On AI more specifically, ClearSky’s CEO Auld says: “As a tech enabler, what’s critical is understanding that AI is not just another tool; it’s a field lever for entire sectors.  The businesses that move first here are going to gain a massive, often irreversible advantage.  Not moving at all?  That’s simply the biggest risk.” 

ClearSky’s own survey of Scottish SMEs at the back end of last year, which focused around AI, a survey we also partnered on, found that while a vast majority of companies planned to invest in artificial intelligence (90 per cent), only just over half of SMEs had already had invested at that time.  

What’s abundantly clear is that Scottish SMEs need to invest in AI and adopt it quicker, otherwise they will not match the productivity gains of equivalent companies in other countries and regions, and the overall nation’s GDP will not reach its full potential. 

If you’re a SME leader in Scotland, you could do a lot worse than plug into the expert advice and services provided by the likes of Elevator and  ClearSky Logic.