The technological reconversion imposed by the crisis spurs small businesses in the Region. Last year only 25.1% of them had their own websites. Now it is 67.6%, according to the National Institute of Statistics (INE), very close to the Spanish average (66.9%).
At the beginning of the year – when the INE survey was carried out – 39,533 businesses were operating in the Region with less than ten workers. In numerical terms, there are 26,724 small companies with an internet presence compared to 9,871 in 2021. This represents an increase of 170% in just one year.
Much of this is due to state aid from the Digital Kit, to which regional aid was added, such as the Electronic Commerce Check, ICT Check and Cybersecurity Check. The latter have subsidized microenterprises with 3.2 million, which generated investments worth 5.3 million and created 415 jobs.
Only 16% of this type of companies have contracted 'cloud computing' services
In the case of medium-sized companies (between 10 and 250 workers) and Murcian companies, the percentage with their own website is 72.1% (of a total of 4,854), which represents 3,499 signatures. The national average is 78.5%, so they are further behind.
The costs
Ordering a website is not buying a delivery van or a milling machine. It is hiring an internet hosting service ('hosting') with which the aim is to expand the client portfolio or generate an 'online' sales business.
Basic business portals with blogs can cost between 500 and 800 euros per year if they are created from templates offered by the hosting firms themselves. The price can be above 5,000 if it is done by a marketing agency under an exclusive design.
According to computer scientists consulted, the starting price for an informative website with some added functionality is around 2,500 euros per year. If there are several –private area, audiovisual content, newsletters, integrations with external applications, tweet or link generators–, the investment exceeds 3,500 euros. If it is only to market products or services, a basic virtual store costs around 2,500 euros, although the price does not usually include catalog work. If intranets for employees, directories, news sections, integration in 'marketplaces', own social network, various payment methods are added… the figure already exceeds 5,000 euros per year
The 'cloud' remains distant from small businesses in the Region. Only 16% of them have contracted 'cloud computing' services for their operation beyond simple web hosting: invoice storage, accounting, electronic billing; inventory, customer and supplier management; data management, backup copies, etc. Only 6,325 small Murcian companies are at that level. Already in medium and large companies, the percentage rises to 24% and translates into at least 1,164 companies.
Many more firms are turning to standard storage services, such as Google Drive, iCloud, OneDrive or Dropbox, as well as professional online programs, such as Office 365, iWork or OfiPro.
The remote computing offer is not exclusive to multinationals such as Azure, AWS, Google Cloud, IBM, Salesforce, SAP, Fujitsu or Oracle. They also have competitors from Murcia (TK Analytics, Inforges and SYS4NET) and from the rest of Spain (Acens, Sarenet, Gigas, Hispaweb, Trevenque, Tedra, Stackscale, Ipcore, Comvive, Swhosting, Idecnet, Arsys, etc.).
Almost nine out of ten use open source software to reduce costs
The proliferation of suppliers, intermediaries ('cloud brokers') and consultancies makes services cheaper for SMEs and microenterprises. Also the generation of open source 'software', adapted to the specifications of each business. 87.7% of small Murcian businesses operate like this; that is, about 34,670.
If before it was the businessmen who took the initiative to undertake a technological transformation, now it is the customers who impose it through their way of informing themselves and consuming. And the reconversion comes from external agents. At least 30,993 Murcian microenterprises (78.4% of the total) have turned to specialists this year to protect themselves, improve processes and be visible on the internet, the majority thanks to the Digital Kit.
-
More than 40 million in private investment against cybercrime
Companies in the Region will close this year with an investment of 41.6 million euros in cybersecurity, according to a survey carried out during the first quarter of the year by the National Institute of Statistics. This figure is almost four times more than last year's injection, which stood at 11.8 million.
At the same time, the INE indicates that only 6.5% of companies and SMEs in the Region – that is, 315 – have computer attack specialists on their payroll. And the Civil Guard registered 9,971 complaints about cybercrimes in the Region in 2022. The real number is higher. Many businessmen do not report so as not to lose the trust of their clients. Most of the incidents were computer system shutdowns (60%), followed by theft and data hijacking (21%). The rest is divided between fraud, specific intrusions and 'malware'.
Likewise, the number of hackers who offer their 'botnets' (networks of computers infected by 'Trojans') to third parties is growing to direct a massive flow of Internet traffic to the websites of competing firms in order to temporarily collapse them.
#ten #small #businesses #Region #present #internet