Some 60,000 medium-sized companies have already signed up for the program to go digital, but many freelancers are not even aware of its existence
Businesses, whether they are medium-sized, small or very small, must go digital to thrive and survive in a context of so much uncertainty. To this end, the ‘Digital Kit’ program of the Ministry of Economy was born, endowed with 3,000 million euros and which aims to promote the digital transformation of the Spanish business fabric by using European funds. According to data from the National Technology Observatory, only 14% of SMEs have a digitization plan.
How much money are we talking about?
12,000 euros. An amount that allows companies to promote a transformation plan that will allow them to grow (99% of companies in Spain are SMEs) and expand. A website that gives the company an international presence and allows it to sell in every corner of the world, improve social networks that promote the company, manage customer relationships online, improve decision-making processes with analytical tools, automate repetitive processes that making a company more efficient, digitizing invoices or providing companies with cybersecurity tools for their employees’ computers and mobile phones are some of the solutions that the program enables.
Who is responsible for installing all these solutions?
The so-called “digitization agents”, these are companies dedicated to this type of function and who have gone through a series of filters put in place by the ministry to be the intermediaries between the digital bonus and the applicant companies.
From Red.es, they explain that so far there are more than 7,300 digitization agents, who are already in contact with the Digital Kit beneficiary companies to provide them with digitization solutions for their business.
Who can register?
In the first call – which was launched on March 14 and has a budget of 500 million euros – companies with between 10 and 49 employees can apply for their bonus. Aid started pouring in a month ago and the 12,000 euros has already been awarded to about 8,000 companies, Red.es confirms. But there are many more who have asked for it. In concrete terms, so far 60,000 companies have applied for this digital kit, approximately 60% of all SMEs with between 10 and 49 employees in Spain.
The province where a higher percentage of SMEs have completed the application is Soria, where 70% of all SMEs of this size have applied for the bonus. The case of Palencia, Lérida, Burgos and Teruel also stands out, all above 55%. Over an informative breakfast this week, Red.es CEO Alberto Martínez Lacambra assured that this is “a unique opportunity” for SMEs, and emphasized the program’s “zero paper” philosophy, so that companies are encouraged to to apply for AIDS aids.
And the rest of the companies?
Aid will gradually reach all small businesses, although the amounts will vary according to size. For companies with three to nine employees, the bonus is 6,000 euros, for companies with fewer than three employees, 2,000.
Pedro Andueza, director of the technical bureau of the ATA Digital Kit, explains that reaching the self-employed will be “more difficult” because “they cannot lose two days of work to present the documentation”, so the association will continue the process of request .
The dates are not final yet. The second support segment for companies with 3 to 9 employees is due to come out in June, but could be postponed to July. The safest part is that the bonus for those with less than 3 employees will arrive in October. Andueza recalls that these are calls that will come out again next year and can be requested again for a digitization service that has not been completed. “The goal is to reach a third of SMEs,” he says.
ATA president Lorenzo Amor stresses that the problem with this bonus is that one in four self-employed people “has no idea what the digital kit is” despite the program plans to provide a million of them. to achieve. “We have to make an effort because it is an important program for the digitization of our business fabric,” warns Amor. The ATA survey shows that only 20% of the self-employed plan to apply for this help, 55% do not consider it and the 25% were not aware of this bonus.
Source: La Verdad
I’m Wayne Wickman, a professional journalist and author for Today Times Live. My specialty is covering global news and current events, offering readers a unique perspective on the world’s most pressing issues. I’m passionate about storytelling and helping people stay informed on the goings-on of our planet.
