As of today, SMEs represent 99% of active companies in Spain, a reality that places our country in ninth place in the EU ranking, according to the report on the digitalization of Spanish SMEs published by this institution.
Having this background, it is worth asking what relevance digitalization has in Spanish SMEs and how does their degree of maturity in this aspect affect their survival in such a demanding market in which, not adopting sufficient digitalization can be detrimental to the maintenance of the business.
The road to success is marked by digitalization
In such a changing environment as the current one, and in the face of increasingly stringent and specific consumer demands, Spanish companies must adapt to the new paradigm that is being presented. The truth is that we are still a long way from achieving competitive digitalization in our SMEs, ranking 16th according to the European Investment Bank report.
The reality is that SMEs, despite making up almost all active companies in Spain, are finding it difficult to meet the current demands of digitalization, either because of their low debt capacity or because of ignorance, fear and uncertainty.
The search for a reliable partner
Many SMEs find themselves alone when it comes to finding a partner to provide them with the fundamental tools, adapted to both their needs and those of their customers. They often end up relying on generic tools that are not adapted to their demands. In addition, large technology consultancies tend to focus on large digital transformation processes, without taking into account the variety that makes up SMEs.
That is why these companies usually start by using the cloud, to a greater or lesser extent, for their daily activity. This is how they begin their path to digitalization and, due to the volume they represent in the Spanish business fabric, cloud service providers must continue to be aware of this reality and partner up with the companies on their path to digitalization, offering tailored and personalized services that adapt to their needs, regardless of sector or size.
The importance of the cloud for SMEs
On the other hand, there are still companies that believe that cloud technology is only reserved for large companies. However, this could not be further from the truth. For example, according to a data protection report by Veeam, 77% of companies will use the cloud for their backup, a reality that is becoming more and more established and which demonstrates the relevance of this technology in today’s business environment.
As a scalable technology, hyperscalers have been evolving and offer different contract plans that adapt to the operational needs of each company, regardless of its size. This allows smaller companies to compete more efficiently in the market, with solutions that until recently were not accessible due to price or lack of technological maturity.
The leap to the cloud can provide great operational advantages for SMEs, from the digitalization of the stock, in real time, which is also able to predict consumption patterns and demand based on external factors, to a control of workloads, which allows the optimization of human and material resources, thus allowing an improvement in productivity.
In addition, it also offers other advantages, such as pay-per-use based on needs, automatic software updates (without having to depend on an IT team), remote access from anywhere or energy savings for the company, delocalizing servers and leaving them in the hands of large data centers.
These data centers also have high security, a relevant factor, since they have updated security systems, reducing the risk of computer attacks, security personnel to prevent physical theft in facilities or redundant systems that act in the event of power outages or natural disasters.
The role of data centers in the SMEs cloud strategy
With the growing use of cloud services by both large companies and SMEs, hyperscalers have opted to bring the processing of their services closer to the end user. All these services, applications and other technological solutions need a place to be located: data centers.
These hyperscalers, which provide cloud services to most companies, require data centers with the highest levels of availability, security and redundancy, in order to ensure the continuity of their services 24x7x365, and thus meet the needs of their customers.
These large data centers, such as the Alcalá Campus Data Center of Nabiax, are the infrastructure that support this type of services and interconnects them through telecommunications networks, facilitating the digitization process of SMEs, reducing their costs indirectly and keeping the service in constant operation.