According to data from the INE, it is the large companies that are most advanced in this digitization process, while SMEs are still they have a long way to go. In fact, 50% of Spanish SMEs will invest only 10% or less of their annual budget for this year, in this matter, according to the First Hiscox Report on SMEs and the self-employed in Spain.
The report also details that more than half (54.6%) have defined a digital strategy and 78.6% are already applying it, which shows that, even if they do not dedicate enough resources to it, SMEs do know the importance of digitization and they know that they must be up-to-date in order to compete with the big players in the market and face the risks or threats that may appear. And it is that 30% of them affirm that they are quite or very affected by technological changes and 47.4% have already taken measures to become digital.
However, compared to 2022, it can be seen that companies are more aware of digitization. On the one hand, it is true that the number of SMEs declaring that they they will allocate less than 10% of their annual budget to digitization but, on the other, 23.4% of those that did not invest will do so this year. In addition, the percentage of SMEs that allocate from 20 to 50% of their annual budget to digitization will double, from 16.5% in 2022 to 32.9% in the next year. This growth indicates that, in general terms, companies are increasingly aware that one of the keys to moving forward and being successful is to commit to digital transformation and have decided to increase their IT spending by 2023.
“2022 has not been an easy year for any company, but even less so for SMEs. When it seemed that the economic situation was recovering after the pandemic, other risks have appeared that have endangered their viability but, even so, Spanish SMEs have shown their resilience and their ability to adapt to changes, such as those that have been experienced in the digital environment. Despite the fact that there is still a lot of work to be done, it is encouraging to know that Spanish companies are betting more and more on their digitalization and on being competitive in an increasingly demanding and challenging market” ensures David Heras, CEO of Hiscox Iberia.
