In the last three years, the corporate world has gone through situations that have heavily solicited its organizational and business models. The pandemic has led to the first signs of crisis on the supply market, geo-political tensions have triggered a major energy crisis. In this context the national SMEs they were able to react with sufficient flexibility by finding valid alternatives to the energy sources used. “All of this, however, has resulted in a slowdown in investments in digitalisation – he comments Claudius Rorato, director of the Digital Innovation Observatory in SMEs of the Milan Polytechnic – However, digital transformation also has its shadows: compared to 42% of SMEs who believe in and make investments of a digital nature, more than three out of ten small and medium-sized enterprises do not recognize the value of digital within their sector. The growth of digital culture, i.e. the ability to develop new visions, invest in personnel skills, use technologies to act on organisational, business and relational models, is still a widespread weakness”.
The funds of the National recovery and resilience plan for SMEs
Il Pnrr has allocated 13 billion (plus 5 from the government supplementary fund) only on the transition 4.0. As part of Mission 1 – Component 2 “Digitalisation, innovation and competitiveness of the production system”, the “Transition 4.0” Investment aims to promote the digital transformation of enterprises encouraging, through the recognition of tax credits, private investments in goods and activities in support of the digitization of processes.
Not to mention all the Pnrr allocations, again dedicated to businesses, on direct tenders – including, for example, 750 million euros for development contracts that finance investment projects on production chains, the tourism 4.0 fund or the tender for the creation of women’s businesses worth 400 million euros. As part of Mission 2 – Component 3 “Digitalisation, innovation and competitiveness of the production system”, Investment 2 “Energy and seismic efficiency of private and public residential buildings” provides for another financial allocation of 13.95 billion euros, in addition to a further 4.56 billion euros financed by the complementary plan. It is no coincidence that one Bank of Italy study has estimated that the growth of jobs in digital services thanks to Pnrr funding will be 27,000 people.
“All these tenders have already started: they have launched a first tender and often others will follow, given that the process of spending Pnrr funds must last until 2026”, he specifies Roberto Trainito, Associate partner of Intellera Consulting. But is the response to the tenders adequate? “Usually yes – continues the consultant – In the Transition 4.0 plan, for example, there was a specific measure on digital training for employees with 300 million euros allocated which have been spent entirely”.
The obstacles to overcome to digitize the Italian system
Obviously, a reverse side of the coin cannot be missing: “As a country system, we are making a mistake when we entrust the digitization of SMEs exclusively to their entrepreneurs, since they cannot face the challenge alone – comments Rorato – Their real problem lies in the daily management of entrepreneurial activity. Entrepreneurs suffer from loneliness as they have no internal shock absorbers to deal with difficulties. What will happen in the future? It will depend on the ecosystem’s ability to support entrepreneurs. Some report that they have failed to activate factory 4.0 due to latency preventing the machines from communicating with each other. Here, for example, connectivity and infrastructure come into play, it is not the responsibility of entrepreneurs”.
Training is another crucial aspect that must start from the ecosystem. “Financing is available, but entrepreneurs often find themselves with a car parked in their garage with no one who knows how to drive it – concludes the researcher – It’s not just a question of having a lot of money, but of understanding how to use it. This understanding should not only come from the entrepreneurs themselves, but also from the ecosystem that must understand the specific problems and support the entrepreneurial system”.