To accompany and promote the paths of digitization of Italian SMEs Unicredit and Microsoft Italia have decided to strengthen their collaboration by relaunching "Together4Digital", the initiative aimed at making financial resources, skills and digital tools available to companies for sustainable economic growth. The goal is to reach at least 100 small and medium-sized enterprises throughout the country and across all production and product sectors with dedicated services and activities in the coming months.
Niccolo Ubertalli, Head of Unicredit Italia said: "The DESI digitization index tells us that, between 2015 and 2020, Italy is among the European countries that have recorded the greatest growth in the overall score obtained, with an increase of 45 %: a small step in the long journey that our country must travel to fully recover the existing gap compared to the more technologically advanced ones". And that the collaboration between Unicredit and Microsoft "aims to promote both the modernization of production and distribution processes, and the consolidation of digital skills".
"While on the one hand, in the last two years, Italian SMEs have seen some progress in terms of digitization, driven by some trends such as electronic invoicing, the diffusion of Cloud Computing services or the use of digital collaboration and sharing systems, on the other hand, they still suffer from a strong innovation lag compared to other countries, putting at risk one of the country's economic growth levers”, he said Silvia Candiani, managing director of Microsoft Italy. "By combining our areas of expertise, we will be able to help over 100.000 companies in the area to think about their future with digital technology".
SMEs and digitalization: Italy is in 20th place in the EU
According to the European Commission's economy and society digitization index (DESI), Italy ranks 20th among the 27 member states of the European Union. Better than the 25th occupied in 2020, but, at the same time, the testimony that our country still has a long way to go to reduce the existing gap compared to the more technologically advanced ones and which risks weighing heavily on Italian companies in terms of competitiveness on global markets. Part of the funds provided for by the PNRR will be aimed at bridging this gap.
With the pandemic, things have changed. More and more, companies recognize digital as a fundamental lever for business progress and survival in the current competitive contexts. According to the Digital Innovation Observatory of the Milan Polytechnic, this is 86% of Italian SMEs.
What services does the company have access to?
In more detail, by registering for free on the website dedicated to the initiative, the company has access to numerous services:
• Financial support for digital investment by Unicredit which will offer dedicated financing lines and personalized assistance, as well as the possibility of accessing Warrant Hub's specialist consultancy on subsidized finance and tax issues, with verification of the access requirements to PNRR funds .
• Possibility of accessing education content made available by the UniCredit Italia Banking Academy, to deepen knowledge on issues of digital transformation, e-commerce, creditworthiness logics, ESG and sustainability.
• A free Solution Assessment provided by Microsoft specialists with the aim of focusing on one's level of "digital maturity" and identifying the suggested digital development actions in which to invest as a priority (with a specific focus on cybersecurity).
• Specialized consultancy services, technology and tailor-made digital solutions offered by Microsoft through its partner VAR Group integrated with training courses and re-skilling of the workforce on digital skills at privileged conditions.
