NATIONAL SURVEY
the SMB sector, will enable the Spain’s comunidades autonómas (autonomous communities) are heavily
economy to continue to grow investing in the sector by promoting the importance of IT through education
above average,” he declares. in schools and universities.
However, Soler also says The latest report on government’s ICT spending, published by the
that the number of Internet Spanish Ministry of Public Administration (Ministerio de Administraciones
connections in Spanish Públicas) in 2007, reveals that government’s ICT spending in 2006 reached
households is below the €1.545bn. Out of this amount IT accounts for 80% of the total spending while
European average and he hopes telecommunications business represents the remaining 20%.
the this gap will be filled over the Investment in R&D activities has been particularly significant in 2007,
next few years. reaching €2.077bn, up 17% on 2006.
Pedro Tortosa, managing “R&D investments have more than doubled in the last four years,” AETIC’s
director at local virtualisation Jesús Banegas proudly points out. These figures also reflect government’s
specialist Ermestel, believes commitment to promoting innovation through the implementation of
that as a result of the economic difficulties prompted by the construction Plan Avanza, a national plan launched in 2005 to comply with the EU 2000
sector’s crisis, small and medium businesses will cut costs during 2008, while Lisbon Strategy. The 2006-2010 strategy aims at “achieving an adequate use
large enterprises will not show any signs of recession, given that their financial of ICT to contribute to a successful economic model based on increased
budgets are usually set one year in advance. competitiveness and productivity, promotion of social and regional equality
Nevertheless, Tortosa is confident that the market will continue to grow: ”I and improvements in citizens’ welfare and life quality”.
believe there are good opportunities for the market,” he declares. According to Banegas, a significant example of Spain’s digitalisation process
Ermestel, which expects a 50% growth in the next twelve months, claims
to lead the Spanish virtualisation market, where Pedro Tortosa sees a high
“It will be a tough year. We have to be very
demand for virtualisation solutions.
cautious.”
“On the positive side, the economic downturn could encourage companies
Pedro Quiroga, MCR General Director
to save resources and optimise costs by investing in new technologies.”
In his opinion, the biggest opportunities for the market are in the public
and industrial sectors. On the other hand, although the financial sector has is represented by the implementation of a digital national identity card, which
already implemented the latest technologies, it continues to invest heavily in the country adopted in 2003.
IT, driven by the need to maintain high quality standards in a very competitive With offices in Madrid, Barcelona as well as Portugal, hardware-specialised
environment. distributor MCR, which is placed at number six in the market, aims at
But does Spain have a core of strong enterprise IT on which to draw? The consolidating its position in the Iberian peninsula although it doesn’t intend to
Statistical Office of the European Communities Eurostat has recently found expand further abroad for the time being.
out that Spain lags behind the rest of Europe when it comes to exporting high- “Our main customers are system integrators and retailers such as Carrefour
tech products with an unimpressive 0.6%. and Media Markt,” MCR general director Pedro Quiroga (next page, below)
However, according to AETIC, exports in 2007 registered an 8% average explains.
growth, reaching a €4.536bn business volume, which was primarily driven by Although the company also distributes some software products, the bulk
information technologies and consumer electronics. of their business is represented by hardware. “It’s a faster-growing segment,” he
So what is driving IT investment? The central socialist government of José observes.
Luis Zapatero, which was re-elected for the second time in March, along with However, he believes that although there are fewer and fewer competitors
02 MAY 2008 23
It0808 - 22-25_Spain_SME.indd 23 30/04/2008 11:55:23
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