The arrival of Covid-19 had a significant impact on the entire global economy. However, the digital transformation did not stop, which meant that companies around the world had to adapt to the new reality and thus prevail over time. But what happened to the level of digitization of companies in Spain? In this article we will explain how the digitalization of Spanish companies has evolved, according to studies and statistics. Let’s get to it!

What is digital transformation?

Digital transformation is a term that is becoming increasingly popular. This is the integration of digital technology into all departments of a company, fundamentally changing the way it operates and delivers value to its customers.

Thus, companies must have the capacity to adapt to technological advances according to the demands of the economic and social paradigm that these advances bring with them.

By technological advances we mean much more than the integration of Big Data, cloud platforms, Artificial Intelligence or 3D printing. It is also the digitization of document management, the familiarization of companies with the Internet and social networks that are part of the digital transformation.

That said, the level of digitization that each company is able to achieve will depend on its objectives and audience, as well as its niche and size.

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The level of digitization of companies in Spain

In 2018, it was the first time that more than half of the inhabitants globally used the internet: 69.3 subscriptions per 100 inhabitants. Likewise, the number of users using mobile broadband has grown by 22% on average per year since the last 5 years.

In particular, Spain is also progressing with solid steps and, according to Covid, the need to be connected has increased exponentially. In 2019, Spain ranked 11th in the list of the 28 European Union states in the DESI, surpassing several points above the average.

In recent years, many studies have been conducted and all of them show that most Spanish companies have already begun their digitization process. And although it does not stop growing annually, it must continue to do so more and more if the country’s companies want to be competitive at a global and international level.

DESI-2021 Results

The latest edition of DESI, published at the end of 2021, collects its data from the first half of 2020, so it is important to be aware that the consequences of the pandemic will be only partially reflected. The consequences of the health emergency will be better reflected in the edition to be published in 2022.

In that sense, in order to align with the Recovery and Resilience Plan and the objectives of the EU Digital Compass of the Digital Decade, 4 metrics have been established: human capital, broadband connectivity, integration of digital technologies by companies and digital public services.

The DESI 2021 edition shows Spain in 9th position, which improves its position by two places compared to the previous year. In addition, it remains ahead of the European average in all four categories, standing out especially in the digital public services and connectivity measures.

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INE Results

The INE results are based on data from Advice Strategic Consultants’ study on the use of technologies in the digitization of companies in the 2020/2021 pandemic period, which represents a before and after.

The aspects to highlight from these percentages is that in terms of infrastructure, i.e., personnel using computers connected to the Internet for business purposes, the results marked 65.7%. That is, employees belonging to companies with 10 or more workers use their computer for business purposes since the first half of 2021.

On the other hand, two out of three companies use social networks, 3.6 points more than last year. Similarly, the feature that increased the most in the last year was the purchase of cloud computing services: 4.2 points, up to 32.4%.

On the other hand, 80.2% of companies with Internet connection use digital signature, 2.3 points less than in the same period of 2020 compared to the current year.

Other reports related to the level of digitization of companies

According to the 2017 Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI), Spain was ranked 14th, with a score of 0.54, which places it slightly above the European average of 0.52, led by Denmark, Finland and Sweden.

On the other hand, another study conducted by PWC in 2017, in which 2,216 technology managers, 50 of them Spanish, were interviewed, resulted in 56% rating their company’s digitalization maturity as “high” or “very high”.

In this study, Spanish companies are above the world average of 52%, ahead of Italy (48%) and the United Kingdom (55%), and behind the United States (59%) and Germany (65%).

Another study conducted by Siemens in 2016 states that Spanish companies that implement technologies such as Big Data, the Internet of Things (IoT), AI or 3D printing can improve their productivity by more than 8% and save 12% in energy costs. It also reduces maintenance-related expenses by more than 5%.

If so, by 2025, the economy’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) could grow to 120 billion euros. However, these results must be evaluated with care, because it should not be forgotten that technology is growing at a dizzying speed and business leaders are being overtaken when it comes to implementing a digital transformation process.

All this has caused digital maturity indexes to stagnate in other countries, while in Spain -which is still advancing with delays- continues to rise.

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The digital transformation in Spain is in continuous evolution and its reports are constantly being updated. For this 2022 you will be able to see the new reports and learn more about the situation.

What cannot be denied is that Spain is making steady progress on its path towards the digitization of its businesses. A path in which it is essential to continue betting on access to quality data and capabilities to take advantage of its full value.

Now that you know the level of digitalization of companies in Spain, are you ready to carry out your business idea in the Spanish territory? To successfully carry out the creation of your company, do not hesitate to call the professionals of TAS Consultancy, the most qualified to make your business prosper here in Spain.