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Microsoft’s contribution to the digitization of SMEs and the Recovery Fund programme

In an environment where large companies are investing and becoming more competitive, widening the gap that separates them from SMEs and with a series of changes related to the pandemic such as the skyrocketing of e-commerce and the expansion of telecommuting, the digital transformation of SMEs it is not simply a choice but a strategic necessity. And the pandemic and the energy crisis may be putting pressure on profitability and dissipating SMEs’ investments in their digitization, but there are today technological solutions such as the Cloud that offer important solutions without requiring large investments in infrastructure.

Based on these data, the large subsidy program of the Recovery Fund for the digital transformation of Greek small and medium-sized enterprises is on track for implementation, with the aim of reducing the difference in the digital readiness index (DigitalEconomyandSocietyIndex – DESI) between Greece and the rest of the European countries. The total budget of the program amounts to 445 million euros, of which 180 million euros will be directed to digital tools, 100 million to the development of digital solutions and 165 million to digital transactions.

The action “Digital Tools for SMEs”, which is implemented by the Information Society (IS), comes to accelerate the digital transformation of small and medium-sized enterprises, which today, according to all surveys, present a significant digital lag, especially the very small and small companies. Small and medium-sized enterprises, which are interested in acquiring the digital tools, can submit applications for inclusion, from Wednesday, June 22, 2022, with the amount of eligible costs that will be financed by the program escalating according to the number of employees of the company. The maximum eligible expenditure is 20,000 euros and the subsidy rate is 90%, therefore the maximum subsidy has been set at 18,000 euros.

Specifically, through the action of the program “Digital Tools for SMEs”, small and medium-sized enterprises can acquire standardized digital products and services available on the market, to improve their productivity, modernize their operation, upgrade the way of communication, collaboration and remote work, digitize their processes and increase, overall, the level of security of their data and their digital operations.

Microsoft’s role in the digital journey of SMEs

An ally in this digital journey of Greek SMEs is Microsoft, which, with the Gr for Growth initiative as a key pillar, promotes technology and cloud solutions as a catalyst for improving competitiveness, demonstrating the importance of digitization for increasing productivity but also the reduction of operating costs.

Microsoft's contribution to the digitization of SMEs and the Recovery Fund programme

In this direction, Microsoft has held a series of informational events in major cities of the region such as Thessaloniki, Patras and Heraklion with the aim of mobilizing its partners – resellers, in order to “transfer” the great opportunity to small and medium enterprises and to support them throughout this process of digital transformation. In addition, in order to facilitate companies, it has created a special website, where all the information about the “Digital Tools for SMEs” program is available, as well as the specially designed solutions offered by Microsoft for small and medium-sized enterprises, which are subsidized by the Recovery Fund.

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The benefits for every company from leveraging Microsoft 365

Microsoft 365 for Business is the most complete and competitive solution as it has been specially designed by Microsoft for the digital transformation of small and medium businesses. It brings together all the modern tools required for the daily work of users, which are framed by the best security solutions. All Microsoft 365 tools are delivered through a unified environment, which makes them easy to manage.

Most importantly, companies that adopt Microsoft 365 increase employee productivity while significantly reducing their costs. Moving to the cloud enables businesses to get rid of high capital expenditure on equipment and therefore invest their resources in new technologies that will improve production, customer satisfaction and profitability.

According to a survey by Focus Bari, it is indicative that 59% of small and medium-sized businesses wish to take advantage of the program’s subsidy to acquire Microsoft 365, Microsoft’s Cloud collaboration package, which contains the applications Office, Outlook, PowerPoint, Excel, Word, security services, cloud space for user files as well as the upgraded Teams service, according to research by Focus Bari.

Source: Capital

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