A digitalisation cheque enables smarter digitalisation
Do you want to digitalise processes, devise digital strategies or begin working in a more digital way? Then you should know that you can undergo a digitalisation check in order to receive financial support to help digitalise your operations.
In this blog entry, we’ll be looking at exactly what a digitalisation cheque is, what you need to do to have one carried out and three types of projects you can use it for.
What is a digitalisation cheque?
A digitalisation cheque is a contribution provided to small businesses by the Swedish Agency for Economic and Regional Growth, or other regional federations, that enables them to finance the purchase of services or temporary positions that help to digitalise their operations.
In order to easily ascertain whether your company meets the requirements for a cheque, the Swedish Agency for Economic and Regional Growth has compiled a list of the criteria which apply. A somewhat simplified and shortened version of the list appears below:
- Your enterprise is either a limited company, sole proprietorship, trading partnership, economic association or limited partnership.
- Your turnover is at least SEK 3 million, and no greater than EUR 10 million, or you have an annual balance sheet total not exceeding EUR 10 million.
Turnover is based on the most recent set of annual accounts. - You have 2–49 full-time employees.
- The aim of the project is to digitalise your operations.
- The enterprise is not part of a group with more than 249 employees.
- New expertise is being utilised for the project.
- The project falls outside the scope of your core activities.
- You have not undertaken the same type of check previously.
If you have, the previous project must have been completed at least one year ago.
To read the full list, visit the the Swedish Agency for Economic and Regional Growth website.
An application for a digital cheque may be different, depending on the region to which you belong. A list of contact details for those responsible in the regions affiliated to the scheme can be found here. More detail about the exact application process is also provided here.
The objective of the cheque is to facilitate digitalisation projects that aim to improve companies’ digital maturity and thereby create new value in the enterprise. To provide examples of how you can utilise the cheque, we have outlined what a digital strategy and digitalised processes are, and how you can identify new business models.
What is a digital strategy?
The nature and composition of a digital strategy may vary, depending on who you ask. For some people, social media and digital marketing immediately spring to mind, others see it as a means of converting existing business into new opportunities, while there are those who prefer to focus on creating a strategy to digitalise internal processes, such as digitalising a paper-based system.
You can look at a digital strategy as a formulated plan which is based on facts and in-depth insights into the enterprise. Irrespective of your final objectives, we recommend that you devise a digital strategy based on the aim of the project and the objectives you wish to achieve. Like other processes of change, the management must be involved in the project and help to create a strategy which ensures the change is applied to the company as a whole.
What are digitalised processes?
If a long-term plan exists to improve the digital maturity of the company, the next step could be focusing on the digitalisation of processes, and gaining support for this through the digitalisation checks. Examples of the digitalisation of processes could include:
- Digitalising document management in order to make it traceable, and more workable.
- Beginning to work with marketing automation.
- Developing applications for time reporting, project management or the development of functions in existing systems that don't currently work as intended, for example.
Digitalised processes are just as they sound – that is, the digitalisation of processes that already exist. This is done in order to create a more efficient, more agile workplace, and in addition, often leads to processes becoming more profitable in financial terms. However, it’s worth bearing in mind that the processes that require the most work are not always the most profitable to digitalise.
Read also: The route to a cost-efficient IT environment
The most important phase of a digitalisation process is to assume full control of your current processes – even those that are not official. Failure to thoroughly document processes is an all too common problem, while existing documentation doesn’t always correspond with reality.
Identify new business opportunities
You can also use the digitalisation cheque to identify and develop your business opportunities. The emergence of Uber is an example of business opportunities that arose through digitalisation. As a result of its innovative strategy, many other taxi operators were forced to start focusing on their own digitalisation in order to meet the new demand among customers. Uber was the inspiration for new business opportunities among other taxi operators, which led to more of these firms enabling their customers to use an app to check where taxis are located, as well as make payment.
Moreover, for the majority of the companies that undergo digital transformation there is a positive impact in terms of greater profitability and customer satisfaction. There are clear indications that digitalisation pays dividends for companies and represents a good investment for enterprises wishing to remain competitive.
In summary
A digitalisation cheque enables you to digitalise and future-proof your enterprise for forthcoming challenges, and if you meet all the criteria for a cheque there’s really no reason not to apply.
Should you choose to digitalise, Nordlo is happy to be your choice of IT supplier. We’re passionate about delivering efficient, future-proof solutions to our customers. We can help you to carry out a preparatory study or digital analysis of your entire operation in order to build a sound platform for continued digitalisation.
If this is of interest to you, we also recommend reading our guide on how to carry out digital transformation in three steps.
Below you can download our guide: Digital transformation in three steps