A report prepared by ObservaTUR for Beroni, a company specializing in technology for the travel agency sector, reveals thatonly 22% of all retailers have benefited from the program so far.This is just 4 percentage points higher than in December 2023 (18%).
Among the agencies that have taken advantage of the Digital Kit grants,most have used these free funds to improve their websites and boost their online presence. Process management (for example, to implement cloud-based software) was the second most focused-on area of the program.
In addition, 15 percent of the agencies have used the grant to boost their e-commerce operations.Meanwhile, nearly8 percent of the agencies have used the Digital Kit to develop tools aimed at improving customer insights, primarily for statistical analysis and business intelligence applications.
The Digital Kit is an initiative launched by the Spanish government aimed at promoting the digitalization of small businesses, microenterprises, and the self-employed, and helping to modernize Spain’s productive sector.It has a budget of 3.067 billion euros, funded by the European Union through the NextGeneration EU funds,as part of the Recovery, Transformation, and Resilience Plan.
As announced by the government,a new round of Digital Kit grants aimed at SMEs with more than 50 employees will soon be approved.The Digital Kit Program has extended the application deadline until December 31, 2024.
According to Josep Bellés, CEO of Beroni, “it is striking how little the number of agencies applying for the program has increased since the last survey (December 2022) until now, despite the efforts all of us digitalization experts are making to raise awareness of it. Especially considering that, for the first time, the grants are free and can help agencies give their digitalization the final push, just as the more than 70 agencies with which Beroni has collaborated in this transformation have already done. Working with a digitalization agent also offers two additional advantages: a simplified application process and the absence of complex paperwork for companies wishing to apply for this funding.”
