What is the Digital Toolkit Program for SMEs and self-employed workers?

The pandemic has shaken the economy like never before. It has forced businesses and self-employed workers to stop providing services due to lockdowns throughout their usual distribution channels.

And while it is true that many businesses have managed to overcome such an unexpected situation thanks to express digitalisation solutions, such as partnerships with Glovo, PayPal, or Amazon, there are still many businesses with clear digital shortcomings that threaten to push them out of the market.

For this reason, the government has launched a digitalisation aid programme for small businesses (Digital Toolkit) to make them more resilient and help them evolve at the same pace as the market. So, if you are a small business or a digitalisation service provider and want to know what the Digital Toolkit Programme is, when and how it applies, stick with us until the end of this article.

What do the Digital Toolkit (DKT) grants consist of?

The Digital Toolkit subsidies are part of the Spain Can Plan, a programme created thanks to Next Generation funds and whose objectives are 2:

1. For the economy to overcome the crisis caused by the pandemic.
2. To encourage a green, digital, inclusive and social modernisation of the Spanish economy.

Within the Spain Can Plan, the Digital Toolkit Programme (with a budget of 3 billion euros in non-refundable funds), aims to provide financial aid to small businesses. This way, they can implement digital tools available on the market in their business, thus bringing about an equal digitalisation of the economy.

What does the Digital Toolkit cover and how does it work?

Three general areas have been identified where digitalisation must gain a greater presence in companies to achieve the objectives of the Digital Toolkit Programme:

• 1. Digital Marketing: development of websites and apps, digital presence, web positioning and digital marketing channels, CRM or customer management and analysis solutions, etc.
  2. E-commerce: point-of-sale terminal, e-commerce capabilities, partnerships with digital partners, etc.
  3. Digital business administration: process management, accounting, enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, applications for automating business processes (e.g., inventory management, logistics, etc.), digital signature, digital time tracking and remote work, cybersecurity, etc.,

The aid is structured as a public-private partnership in which there is a public subsidy, a provider company of the service/product and a beneficiary company. The aid is granted in the form of basic packages, called DTK packages. These will cover most of the cost of implementing the approved digital tool, as well as training for its proper use (up to 80%), with the beneficiary company having to pay the remaining amount.

The amount received is determined by the DTK aid package approved in each case, and these can be: basic, medium or advanced.

However, the DTK programme is not a closed programme. The subsidy can be adjusted based on more specific criteria, and additional packages can be requested with proper justification.

Who is the DKT aimed at?

These grants are exclusively for small businesses, and the objective has been set to contribute to the implementation of basic digitalisation packages in 145,000 small businesses (10 to 49 employees), 1,100,000 micro-enterprises (1 to 9 employees) and 1,600,000 self-employed workers.

These subsidies will be granted on a first-come, first-served basis until the budget runs out, provided the requirements are met.

The calls for applications may decide on the eligibility of companies with the ultimate goal that all small businesses taking part in the programme achieve a significant advance in their Digital Maturity Level.

What requirements must companies and self-employed workers meet to acquire the DTK?

There are 6 requirements to take into account:

1. Carry out a self-assessment to identify the company's Digital Maturity Level, which determines which DKT package is most suitable.
2. The self-assessment must be previously carried out by one of the Facilitating Agents that AceleraPyme makes available to companies.
3. The digitalisation packages cannot be intended to replace or improve, but to implement digitalisation tools.
4. The beneficiary must comply with the requirements of the General Subsidies Law.
5. The amount cannot exceed the current maximum of de minimis aid (€200,000).
6. Exceeding certain activity thresholds may be required to ensure a minimum level of business viability.

It is important to mention that currently the aid cannot be applied for, at least in all autonomous communities. But if you are a small business, keep an eye on the calls for applications because you could benefit from this aid. Likewise, if you are a provider of digital services, don't lose sight of the fact that it may be your new clients who choose your services as the most suitable for increasing their Digital Maturity Level.

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