Seyma Kocak, Jan Pawlowski

• Digital Transformation is becoming increasingly important in the economy and is recognized as an opportunity in the skilled crafts sector. Digitization measures have positively impacted processes and customer satisfaction in the skilled crafts sector. As the skilled crafts sector is still traditionally positioned, various challenges hinder the transformation. Which barriers stand in the way of digital transformation in the skilled crafts sector - that is the overarching question of our work. In order to find out the barriers, literature research on (general) digitalization barriers was conducted. The identified barriers were divided into organizational and cultural, individual and technical barriers, and missing skills/ workforce. A qualitative study with N=10 experts was conducted to identify the specific barriers for craft enterprises. The results show that most technical, individual barriers and lack of missing skills are reduced through staff training or collaboration. Keywords: Barriers, Digital Transformation, Craft Enterprise