Currently, Spanish small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) face great competition in the market, so it is essential that they keep up to date with the latest technologies and innovations in order to be more efficient and competitive.
Some of these new technologies are cloud computing, with which to store large information on the Internet or remote access, with the consequent reduction of IT infrastructure costs; or Artificial Intelligence, which SMEs can use, for example, to improve their customer service, optimize their supply chain and automate repetitive tasks.
The path towards the digitalization of SMEs is increasingly flatand the first date on the calendar to achieve the most ambitious goals is 2030. The fifth episode of the video podcast is about this and much more.Digital Destination: Conversations about things to come”, in which they participate Alberto Martinez LacambraCEO of Red.es, and Javier Vizcaino, director of Small and Medium Enterprises at Telefónica. You can listen to it on any podcast platform or watch it on Youtube. We leave you the links here:
Present and future of Spanish SMEs
There is one thing that is clear, and that is that Spain is a country of SMEs. In fact, 99% of the country’s companies are small or medium-sized, which represents two thirds of all employment that exists. According to Alberto Martínez Lacambra, from Red.es, therein lies the importance of digitizing SMEs, since it helps them grow and makes them more productive.
If we compare the business muscle that SMEs represent for Spain with other European countries, Spain is the seventh economy in digital terms. In terms of connectivity we are the third country, only surpassed by Denmark and the Netherlands, whose orography is much more favorable. Despite these positive data, it is necessary to continue digitizing companies.
Regarding the challenges, Javier Vizcaíno, from Telefónica, agrees that Spain is in a good situation regarding the importance of SMEs, but marks the main challenge establish a relationship between the needs of a company and the use of technologyunderstand well how the company works and how to get more out of it.
Alberto Martínez is much more categorical and establishes that digitization is going to be essential, not only for the growth of any SME but also for survival. “I would encourage all companies to start the path of digitization if they have not already started. Otherwise, the future is going to be quite uncertain for them..” points out the general director of Red.es.
Digital kit: who can benefit
First of all, for all those who do not know what it is, the Digital Kit program is part of the Transformation, Recovery and Resilience Plan that the Government of Spain is being carried out and has a budget of 3,067 million euros. The objective is to subsidize companies and help them digitize.
This subsidy is divided into two segments, on the one hand, Segment 1, for companies with between 10 and 50 employees, and Segment 2, for SMEs with between 3 and 10 employees. They affect both internal processes, such as process management, business intelligence, and other external procedures, such as social networks, the web, and electronic commerce.
“Three out of four companies are asking us for cybersecurity solutions, and three out of four are also asking for social media solutions. 50% of companies request virtual office services, teleworking is a brutal opportunity to gain productivity. Also 50% opt for the website. Power BI has been a big surprise, 40% of the companies in Segment 1 and 2 ask us for this type of solution.” Declares Javier Vizcaíno.
And for the future, what awaits us in 2030?
Both Alberto and Javier agree that the steps that are being taken towards the digitization of SMEs are correct and that all that is needed is to keep pushing together. From basic digitization solutions to promote digital transformation from there.
Javier Vizcaíno also adds that the time is now, and that missing the opportunities that arise to go digital is to be left behind.
Report on Digital Economy, by Adigital and BCG
Last week, the Association Spanish Digital Economy (Adigital) and Boston Consulting Group Present the Third Edition of the Report Digital Economy in Spainwhich includes the evolution of the digitization of companies during 2022. There are two aspects it addresses: first, the digitization of SMEs and their great weight in the economic fabric of our country and, on the other hand, scalability and growth of Spanish technology-based companies.
One of the main conclusions of the report shows the improvement in digitization of the Spanish economy, reaching 22.6% of GDP in 2022, 0.6 pp more than in 2020 (22.0%), and almost 4 pp more than in 2019 (18.7%)
To carry out the study, different interviews have been carried out and the responses of directors of Spanish companies familiar with the levers and success factors of the digitization of SMEs have been analyzed.
You can see more information related to the Digital Economy report here:
“Digital Destination: conversations about what is to come”
In just five episodes, “Digital Destination: Conversations about things to come” has already become video podcast on digitization most important in Spain. In each episode, leading people from the business world present their vision on how digitization helps companies improve their processes.
periodically a new program is broadcast with the most important people and companies in the world of digitization. For example, Carina Szpilka, president of Adigital, and Sergio Oslé, CEO of Telefónica Spain, participated in the first episode. Javier Gutiérrez, Director of Network Strategy and Development at Telefónica Spain, and Lorena González, Co-founder of INMERSIVA XR, the Extended Reality Association of Spain, participated in the last episode.
If you don’t want to miss any episode of Destino Digital: conversations about what’s to come, subscribe to the profiles and you will receive an alert when a new episode is published.