Digitalisation of Turkish enterprises: what TÜİK data shows

Version 1.0 — Last updated: October 29, 2026

According to the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK), 28.3% of enterprises with 10 or more employees used ERP software in 2025, against 46.45% in the EU (Eurostat). AI use among Turkish enterprises rose to 14.0% in 2026; the EU rate was 20.0% in 2025. The ERP gap is widest among small enterprises.

For international companies operating in Turkey, official statistics are a useful check on what to expect from local suppliers, customers and partners. The Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) measures ICT use in enterprises every year, and in 2026 published a separate artificial intelligence bulletin. This post sets three TÜİK bulletins next to Eurostat's EU data and looks at what they mean for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). It is written by the founder of Turkey-based Gramoni.

First, scope: both TÜİK's and Eurostat's enterprise results cover enterprises with 10 or more employees. The sectors covered are not identical, and some comparisons use different years; I flag this next to each figure.

ERP: one enterprise in four

According to TÜİK, 28.3% of enterprises used enterprise resource planning (ERP) software in 2025, and 12.0% used customer relationship management (CRM) software. ERP use rises sharply with size: 23.6% for enterprises with 10–49 employees, 46.0% for 50–249 and 76.5% for 250 or more.

Eurostat reports that 46.45% of EU enterprises used ERP in 2025, 3.07 percentage points more than in 2023. The rate was 41.08% for small enterprises and 88.71% for large ones.

Sources: TÜİK (2025 ICT and 2026 AI bulletins), Eurostat. In Eurostat's data, small means 10–49, medium 50–249 and large 250 or more employees and self-employed persons.

The first takeaway: among large enterprises the ERP gap between Turkey and the EU is about 12 points; among small enterprises it is more than 17. In Turkey, ERP still has the most ground to cover in small businesses.

AI: almost doubled in a year

TÜİK's 2026 AI bulletin shows that the share of enterprises using at least one AI technology rose from 7.5% in 2025 to 14.0% in 2026, up from 2.7% in 2021. By size in 2026, the rate was 12.8% for 10–49 employees, 17.0% for 50–249 and 37.1% for 250 or more.

Eurostat reports that 20.0% of EU enterprises used AI in 2025, up from 13.5% in 2024: 17% of small, 30.36% of medium-sized and 55.03% of large enterprises.

The years differ here: Turkey's 2026 rate is compared with the EU's rate a year earlier. Even so, one pattern stands out. In Turkey, AI use among medium-sized enterprises (17.0%) is close to that of small ones (12.8%); in the EU, medium-sized enterprises use AI almost twice as often as small ones.

According to TÜİK, enterprises using AI used it most for marketing or sales (51.0%), R&D or innovation (46.3%) and production or service processes (43.4%). The same bulletin reports that 16.6% of enterprises using AI processed personal data with it, such as gender, age, address or purchase records. In other words, AI in Turkish businesses is no longer only generating text; it is starting to work on customer and operational data.

Infrastructure: cloud and security

TÜİK's 2026 ICT bulletin shows the same size pattern in infrastructure. 20.2% of enterprises used paid cloud computing services: 16.7% for 10–49 employees, 33.3% for 50–249 and 57.0% for 250 or more. The share of enterprises applying any ICT security measure rose from 76.0% in 2024 to 83.0% in 2026, and 9.4% reported at least one ICT security incident in 2025.

These figures are a reminder that digitalisation is not only a software choice: where data sits and how it is protected are part of the same decision.

The barrier: expertise and uncertainty

In TÜİK's 2026 data, enterprises that had considered AI but did not use it gave these reasons: a lack of relevant expertise (72.3%); unclear legal consequences, such as who is liable if AI causes harm (66.4%); and data protection and privacy concerns (65.4%).

The EU picture is similar. Eurostat reports that in 2025 the most common reasons were a lack of relevant expertise (70.89%), unclear legal consequences (52.52%) and data protection concerns (48.83%).

The expertise gap also shows in staffing. TÜİK's 2026 ICT bulletin puts the share of enterprises employing ICT specialists at 15.2%: 10.8% for 10–49 employees, 29.8% for 50–249 and 73.3% for 250 or more. Of enterprises that hired or tried to hire an ICT specialist, 31.7% reported difficulties in 2025.

What it means for SMEs

Three practical conclusions:

1. For small businesses, the real gap is ERP. More than three in four enterprises with 10–49 employees do not use ERP. An AI project needs structured data to work on, and in most companies that data lives in the ERP. If you are choosing an ERP, our ERP selection guide covers that step.
2. After the ERP, the next step is data flow. Even in companies with an ERP, part of the records are still keyed in by hand from the shop floor, the warehouse and the bank. I cover this in a separate post.
3. The AI barrier is trust and expertise, not technology. The top three reasons for not using AI are expertise, legal uncertainty and privacy. The answer is applications with a clear scope whose results go through human approval. Gramoni's AI and automation service works on that principle: AI applications that run on your own data and processes, with every result going through human approval. We do not train models on your data.

TÜİK's next enterprise ICT bulletin is due in September 2027 and its next AI bulletin in October 2027.

If you want to discuss an ERP on Workcube, a Turkish ERP platform, or connecting your existing ERP to the shop floor and the bank, see our Workcube ERP consulting page or book a call.