Boosting SMEs 2017 accelerates the digital transformation of Canarian companies

New rules of the game

The Mayor of Santa Cruz, José Manuel Bermúdez Esparza, announced a formal agreement with the Canarian Employment Service for the launch, in the four Canarian capitals, of a joint Shock Plan focused on advising, creating and promoting entrepreneurship in the four cities.

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El Mayor of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Jose Manuel Bermudez Esparza, announced at the opening of the Promoting SMEs Conference, held at the Grand Hotel Mencey, the agreement formalized with the Canary Islands Employment Service for the implementation, in the four Canary Islands capitals, of a joint Shock Plan focused on advising, creating and promoting entrepreneurship in the four cities. “We want to give people who are unemployed – he said – the possibility of creating a company or being self-employed, advising them, motivating them, accompanying them and making things easier.” According to the mayor, Santa Cruz It is the city that creates the most jobs in Tenerife and he said that “last year the Development Society carried out more than 800 consultations, from which 46 companies have emerged”. Finally, he highlighted the interest of the Conference “because it focuses on issues such as innovation, the ability to adapt and the quality and excellence of the products and services that defend the success or failure of SMEs”.

 

In turn, the Pedro Alfonso Martin, General Secretary of CEOE-Tenerife He said that without innovation and entrepreneurship there is no future “but companies also need the support of institutions or, at least, that their activity is not hindered, and the city council plays an excellent role”. Referring to the Conference, he thanked the role of the sponsors who, selflessly and at no cost to local companies, “transmit knowledge and experience that has enormous business value”. Finally, Juan Alfonso Cabello Mesa, Councillor for Economic Promotion of the Development Society highlighted the business dynamism of Santa Cruz, whose metropolitan area is home to 95 percent of the island's companies. "We want to be - he said - the best ally of the business community."

 

According to different studies, more than 40% of the companies that exist today are going to undergo a major transformation in the next ten years, a percentage that doubles in the case of SMEs, which are much more fragile to the phenomenon of global disruption, and the objective of this initiative is to provide Spanish SMEs with the knowledge and innovative tools they need to improve and boost their businesses.

 

 “Digitalization has changed the rules of the game, business and management models,” he explained. Pascual Carrascal, Head of SMEs in the Canary Islands at Vodafone, “it is a reality, a door through which we all have to pass.” In his presentation, Vodafone helped define a roadmap to successfully face digital transformation. “The digital world can open up new opportunities, new markets or new customers. That is why it is very important to be there, but even more important is to be well.” Vodafone presented its Digital Transformation Award to Isola, an innovative brand in the nuts market.

 

To Miguel Ángel Rapado, Director of International Business for the Canary Islands at Banco Santander, “international connectivity is a competitive advantage that allows SMEs to sell their products and services anywhere in the world and, to do so, it is essential to know how to take advantage of the synergies of establishing themselves in another country and knowing, easily and quickly, everything regarding its international transactions.”

 

Energy has been established as a strategic service within a company's profit and loss account, although most companies do not analyse their performance. To promote this cultural change, Endesa has analysed the energy performance of companies, based on real consumption, and it has been found that 82% of the companies analysed show immediate savings if they make adjustments to their power, achieving savings of between 60 and 500 euros per year in 2.000% of cases. At the event, Endesa presented its Energy Efficiency Award to the San Sebastián Cooperative.

 

“We encourage SMEs to bet on sustainability,” according to Teresa Sebastiá, from the Business and Ecodesign Department of Ecoembes. “We promote recycling,” he said, “as part of the 3R strategy: reduce, reuse, and recycle. The new economy is circular, and thanks to the vision and collaborative commitment of citizens, businesses, and government agencies, we have achieved a 75% recycling rate in Spain for the household packaging we use daily. The Green Dot is a financial symbol that we will all find on the packaged products of companies that are committed to recycling.”

 

Mobility and connectivity are other key success factors, according to Carlos Gonzalez, from Mercedes-Benz Vans Spain: “Digital transformation has revolutionized the business world and with it the customer experience and the way the company connects with both its customers and its suppliers. This connectivity will be a plus for the businesses that implement it and will differentiate them from their competition.”

 

An adventure in which “you cannot go alone”, in the words of Carlos Garcia from Yellow Pages, which analyzed the digital muscle of Spanish SMEs and said that "companies have to make themselves known, they must be easily contactable and, at the same time, they must have the support and the best advice from a professional." According to a study carried out by Yellow Pages “The most digitally advanced SMEs are those that have been created in the last three years.” “The digital transformation is a reality,” he points out. David Franco – and more traditional companies have to overcome their fears and eliminate the barriers that exist to carry out their digitization process.”

 

To Enrique Fernandez from AXAThe adoption of new technologies is key to the development of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). “It’s a business venture,” he says, “in which SMEs must take into account the cyber risks arising from the new digital ecosystem and implement solutions that guarantee the cybersecurity of their business.”

 

Alfonso Arroyo, Corporate Director of GO fit, explained the business philosophy that has led this company to success “it is based on three wheels - he indicated - innovation, the client and people, with special focus on people. Our goal is to develop solutions aimed at improving the customer experience and the key is to be able to interact with them at any time of the day.”

 

To sell you have to be able to get paid and to Pablo Nebreda, Marketing Director of UniversalPay “The best idea to charge someone who never carries cash is to provide them with a digital payment wherever and whenever they want.” The company reported on the latest developments in payment methods based on flexible, independent, price-competitive, multi-channel, secure solutions... "that will help SMEs not to lose any sales."

 

Eva Camacho, Commercial Director of JCDecauxHe asserted that the key to effective communication lies in identifying the right target audience. Data itself is neither dynamic nor intelligent; it's static. It's essential to know what to expect from the available information. The key is to know as much as possible about customers: "where they live, what products they consume, their activities and lifestyles... which allows you to build a profile of the audience and the average Sevillian: what's on their mind, what they're thinking about..."

 

Two hours of entrepreneurship

 

In this edition, the initiative reinvents its success model, based on two hours of authentic business feeling, and reinforces its interactive nature through a mobile application that allows attendees to interact, give their opinions and rate in real time. Two hours that include 10-minute presentations by experts from the business world, from large companies, which are entertaining and motivating, both for the ideas and approaches, as well as for the interest and empathy with the concerns of the attending SMEs. A space for exchanging knowledge that ends with a networking cafe where you can share impressions, find possible synergies with other SMEs and ask questions or queries to the promoters.