The decade we have just begun will be key to facing the great challenges to which humanity is exposed. With the 2030 Agenda, the United Nations considers that technology, communications and innovation have a very important role to play in these transformations foreseen for society.
In order to bring together these three aspects of social progress (technology, communications and innovation), digitalisation must be boosted. Humanity’s journey from the emergence of the internet through its widespread use to the digitisation of almost every area of our relationships has accelerated in recent months with the covid-19 pandemic.
Since the onset of the health crisis, the confinements and the social distance, the adaptability of people and companies has been demonstrated by technology and by carrying out many of our activities online.
To recover from the shock of the pandemic, digitalisation has to be a fulcrum and ensure that no one is left behind.

Unfortunately, when we look at the Spanish business fabric, we are not as digitised as I think Spain should be,” said the general manager of Google in Spain and Portugal, stressing that the problem lies in SMEs. As an illustration, she indicated that some Cepyme studies indicated before the pandemic that only 19% of Spanish SMEs had included digital transformation in their agenda, and this is clearly insufficient” and only 30% of the Spanish business fabric works in cloud solutions.

And in relation to the 2020-2025 Digital Agenda, he acknowledged that “it is a professional work that addresses what needs to be done”, but warned that “the plan alone, if there is no streamlining in the procurement of cloud services, is not going to be possible and it is necessary to put the best of everyone”. “Somehow, we have to streamline the processes of contracting cloud technology in the government so that they can be accelerated and go together, private companies and the public sector, and be able to help the consumption of these funds and obviously that they are dedicated to those things that will have an even greater impact and contribute more,” he advised.

Spain will spend 33% of European funds

During the debate, the Secretary of State for Digitalisation and Artificial Intelligence, Carmen Artigas, agreed that the pandemic has highlighted the need for digitalisation of companies and the country in general, by making “what is important suddenly become urgent”.
“Those transformations that we saw as essential in the Spanish business fabric have revealed to us that it is the difference between being able to continue working or not, between being able to continue educating our children or not, having access to public services or not, and even relating to our loved ones”, he said, affirming that the situation makes it clear that “the economic recovery of our country depends on digital transformation”.
By way of illustration of the commitment made by the government to promote this, he indicated that, while in Europe an average of 20% of European funds will be dedicated to digitalisation, Spain is going to allocate 33% “so that these funds are dedicated to rebuilding, to recovering not only what is cyclical, but also what is structural, which is what will guarantee our sustainability in the long term”.
Staying connected in times of coronavirus is one of the ways out for a large part of the population. This favours the incorporation of digital tools in all areas of life, such as the use of applications to make video calls or shopping apps. The digital economy has been strengthened and many online companies have increased their sales, using innovation and reinvention of their business. The crisis caused by Covid-19 has accelerated the transformation of many traditional companies to a digital version and has massively increased the revenues of others that were already digital, securing their prominent position in the market, as has happened with large and well-known companies such as Amazon, Apple or Aliexpress.