UNJournal Lee Sung Jun | Uzbekistan's private sector is navigating a pivotal transition from the adoption of basic digital tools toward deeper technological modernisation, according to a large-scale survey of more than 5,000 entrepreneurs conducted jointly by the Center for Economic Research and Reforms (CERR) and the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI).

The study, which covered enterprises of varying sizes and experience levels across all regions of the country, assessed the current business environment, evaluated the effectiveness of entrepreneurship support measures, and developed proposals for further improving business conditions and promoting private sector development. Private businesses accounted for 93 percent of respondents, with wholesale and retail trade representing the largest share of participants by sector at 43 percent, followed by services at 30 percent, industry at 17 percent, construction at 8 percent, and agriculture, forestry, and fisheries at 2 percent.

Digital Adoption Is Widespread — But Uneven

The survey's headline finding on digital adoption is striking: 94 percent of enterprises report using basic digital solutions in some form. More than half — 60 percent — use artificial intelligence in at least one application, with marketing and sales emerging as the most common use case at 24 percent, followed by production process optimisation at 15 percent, accounting and financial analysis at 14 percent, and customer-facing chatbots at 13 percent.

Social media has become a near-universal channel for promotion and customer engagement, used by more than four in five enterprises at 80.9 percent. More than half have established online sales capabilities at 58.8 percent, and nearly half use customer relationship management systems at 48 percent. Digital payment systems, however, are used by only one in four enterprises at 25 percent, and digital business analytics tools by just one in seven at 14 percent — with a significant proportion of businesses either not using such systems or unaware that they exist.

The Productivity Gap: Comprehensive Adoption Remains Rare

Despite high rates of basic digital tool adoption, the survey reveals a significant gap between surface-level digitalization and the kind of integrated technology use associated with meaningful productivity gains. Only approximately one in nine enterprises — 11.6 percent — has implemented three or more efficiency improvement measures simultaneously, while more than a quarter of businesses — 28.5 percent — use none of the measures examined.

The distinction matters considerably for business performance. Among enterprises that have implemented at least three efficiency measures, more than half report increased demand for their products and services at 54.1 percent. Such enterprises are 4.1 times more likely to achieve cost reductions, and 2.1 times more likely to record wage growth exceeding 10 percent. Their investment outlook is also markedly stronger, with 57.8 percent planning to increase investment in the following year.

Regional disparities in comprehensive technology adoption are pronounced. Tashkent city leads at 18 percent of enterprises applying three or more measures, while the figures for Samarkand, Bukhara, and Syrdarya regions stand at 4 percent, 3 percent, and 2 percent respectively — underscoring the concentration of advanced business practices in the capital and the challenges facing the broader regional private sector.

AI in Practice: Promise and Untapped Potential

While the 60 percent AI adoption rate is notable, the survey finds that roughly one-third of enterprises use AI directly in production, logistics, or financial processes — indicating considerable scope for deeper practical application beyond marketing and customer-facing functions. One in three enterprises has adopted multiple digital solutions, and nearly one in three uses AI across at least two areas.

The sectoral breakdown reveals variation in how technologies are being deployed. Services leads in CRM adoption at 54 percent and records the highest AI uptake at 68 percent. Industry shows strong CRM and AI adoption at 49 percent and 60 percent respectively. Agriculture, while trailing in most categories, shows relatively high uptake of digital payments at 30 percent — a finding that may reflect the sector's growing engagement with mobile financial services.

Barriers to Further Digitalization

Entrepreneurs surveyed identified several conditions that would support broader digital adoption: improved internet infrastructure, cited by 13 percent; greater availability of qualified specialists, cited by 10 percent; and lower financial costs associated with technology adoption, cited by 9 percent. The shortage of skilled personnel — including IT professionals and engineering and technical staff — was confirmed as a systemic constraint across the broader findings of the study.

From Access to Integration

The CERR study's conclusions align with World Bank enterprise-level research, which finds that the most significant productivity gains occur not when businesses first gain access to digital technologies, but when they move to more advanced solutions — including cloud services, management systems, analytics, and AI — accompanied by genuine changes in internal business processes. Digital payments and online sales in isolation, the research suggests, have limited impact without deeper process transformation.

The survey's authors frame the challenge facing Uzbekistan's private sector as one of moving from supporting access to technologies toward enabling their practical integration into production and management. This requires, above all, the development of managerial and digital competencies and investment in the training of qualified personnel.

The findings are framed in the context of contemporary economic growth theory — including the work recognised by the 2025 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences — which links long-term productivity gains to the diffusion of new knowledge and its practical application within firms and industries.

Further business support measures, the authors conclude, should prioritise expanding the practical adoption of technologies within enterprises' production and management processes — not merely broadening awareness or subsidising initial access.