Scientific paper ID 1821 : 2019/3

At the time of digitization of business processes, education becomes very important. It does not only mean acquiring skills in programming and using computers but also acquiring manager skills to do business in a new environment. These skills are very important potential for gaining competitive advantage. Related to education SMEs can find themselves as users or as service providers. Much more often is the first case and it is analyzed in detail as a basis for the progress of SMEs. 226 SMEs from Serbia, Slovakia, and Russia were analyzed. Their ability to take advantage of IT was evaluated. As the first criterion for the digital skills dimension, the number of SMEs in the sample with employees with university education in the field of technical or economic sciences has been adopted. The results have shown that about three-quarters of SMEs have at least one employee who has completed technical or faculty in economic sciences. Less than one half have at least one employed STEM graduate. As expected, the largest percentage was achieved by medium-sized companies, and the share of SMEs with IT experts corresponded to the size of SME. As indicators were considered the share of employees who completed high school in IT, the share of engaged in programming, whether SMEs have organized IT trainings in the last three years and whether they plan them in the next year. Different types of education for SMEs needs were analyzed.