The Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI) prepared by the European Commission places Spain in 16th position in the European Union in the implementation of technologies in small and medium-sized enterprises, with a large part of the digital performance indicators of its entire economy below average, with exceptions such as connectivity, where it ranks third.
“In the DESI report, we are down from 10th place in digitization, when we should be on the podium. Spain is very good in telecommunications networks, but it is not so good in the use of technological applications”, stated the general director of Vodafone Business, Daniel Jiménez, welcoming the La Vanguardia Dialogue meeting.
The debate, which took place last Tuesday at the Vodafone Lab space in Madrid, focused on analyzing the challenges and opportunities of digitizing SMEs, and also included the participation of the Secretary General of the Spanish Confederation of Small and Medium Company (CEPYME), Luis Aribayos; the director of Value Proposition of CaixaBank Business, Sergio Sala and the partner of Deloitte Digital, Antonio Ibáñez.
The economic situation after the pandemic is “extremely complex”, recognizes the general secretary of CEPYME, Luis Aribayos. The director of this confederation recalls that the more than three million Spanish SMEs “represent 99.8% of the country’s business fabric, where there are only 5,000 larger companies”.
In addition, Aribayos highlights that “94.7% of all Spanish companies are micro-SMEs”. Taking into account the weight that SMEs and the self-employed represent in the economy, the general secretary of CEPYME insists that “Spain will not be digital if its SMEs are not digital”. And he adds as a “great challenge” that “SMEs will not be digital if the people who form them are not.”
The “talent axis” is one of the great obstacles to the technological transformation of SMEs, which “sometimes play at a disadvantage compared to large companies,” warns Deloitte Digital partner Antonio Ibáñez.
Faced with this difficulty, the general director of Vodafone Business, Daniel Jiménez, believes that “instead of capturing talent” it is necessary to opt for “creating talent”. The way to achieve this is, in his opinion, to empower people. Otherwise, “if we make them believe that the technological transformation is very difficult, they back down and apply the handbrake,” lamented Jiménez.
The concept of digitization is “tremendously broad”, points out the Deloitte Digital partner, Antonio Ibáñez. “There is a lot of abstraction that people do not fully understand and, therefore, we must combat this lack of knowledge,” adds the general manager of Vodafone Business. For this reason, Daniel Jiménez advocates encouraging SMEs and freelancers to “dare to implement technological solutions.” However, he clarifies that it is also necessary to advise them since “even though there are many free tools, ‘do it yourself’ is not the solution.”
In order to make progress in technology, at the same time, “you have to focus your shot”, highlights the general director of Vodafone Business. “You have to choose specific issues in the value chain, for example, protecting cybersecurity, digitizing processes to improve the customer experience or automating so that your employees save time or efficiency,” suggests Daniel Jiménez.
The “secret” is in “choosing very well what and for what I digitize myself, with what technology and how”, reveals the partner of Deloitte Digital, Antonio Ibáñez. As an example of the number of possibilities that exist, he explains that his firm has “inventoried more than 10,000 technological solutions”, including “CRM, big data analytics, electronic commerce or information security.”
“Going digital serves to improve your customers’ experience and, therefore, to sell more, to change your business model if necessary, and to improve internal efficiency. It is important that the SME is helped to understand which of these value axes is the one that best applies to them. What they are going to need can be very different and must meet one of these three main objectives. In that choice is value. It is important to simplify and make sure they have the necessary training to use this technology”, says Antonio Ibañez.
The speakers acknowledge their responsibility in facilitating the digitization of SMEs from their respective positions. In the case of financial entities, the Director of Value Proposition at CaixaBank Business, Sergio Sala, explains that they are “one of the main consultants for SMEs”. And he gives as an example the accompaniment in the implementation of online payment: “the moment of payment is important and it must be an easy process with added services. We have gone from a complicated process to a system that is much easier for the user and easy for the company to install, incorporating analytical services, CRM, deferred payments, loyalty and solidarity rounding, among others, adding services at no cost and with a return for the seller.
From CaixaBank they carry out dissemination work to also inform about the “great opportunity” that European funds represent for small and medium-sized companies to advance in terms of digitization. In addition, he explains that the bank “complements the aid with financing, such as VAT not eligible for subsidies by the administration.”
The Director of Value Proposal at CaixaBank Businesses, Sergio Sala, describes the Digital Kit aid program as a “great success”, an opinion shared by the rest of the speakers. The Digital Kit program is endowed with a budget of 3,067 million euros financed by the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan of Spain next Generation Eu within the framework of the Digital Spain agenda and the 2021-2025 SME Digitization Plan, with the objective of digitizing the largest number of SMEs and freelancers over the next three years. the first call, which allows companies with between 10 and less than 50 workers to access aid of 12,000 euros from the Kit Digital program to develop their digitization projects, such as web page design, online sales, positioning on the internet or social networks, electronic invoicing or cybersecurity, among other solutions, is already underway. Soon, aid will be announced for smaller companies, of 6,000 euros, for SMEs with three to nine employees; and 2,000 euros for micro-enterprises with less than three employees or freelancers.
The first step to apply for this aid is to carry out a diagnostic test through the accelerate SME platform (www.acelerapyme.es). The provision of digitization services to SMEs and the self-employed who request it is carried out by more than 6,000 digitizing agents. registered in the catalog of this platform, which is updated every week with the companies that meet the requirements to collaborate, and they will be the ones who will present all the supporting documentation to receive the payment of the digital voucher.
“The Digital Kit is a fundamental tool that has a relatively simple processing system, in addition to the advantage that it does not have co-financing”, celebrates the general secretary of cepyme, luis aribayos, who predicts that “it can change the perception of the small companies that European funds come to them, since for many it is the first time they ask for a subsidy”. “The initiative is very transparent, it is a country project. we cannot fail”, highlights the general director of vodafone Business, Daniel Jiménez, who concludes his speech in the debate with a message of optimism: “The Digital Kit gives us the opportunity to work together, collaborating with entities from different sectors, both public and private, for the benefit of the business fabric. For this reason, our wish is that these aids continue as something permanent over time”.
