Catalan companies forge ahead in the digital race

Catalan firms are ahead of companies as a whole in Spain when it comes to embracing the digital revolution. According to a new study by the Vodafone mobile phone company, the advantage shown by businesses in Catalonia is largely due to the Mobile World Congress (MWC), the major mobile industry fair that takes place every year in Barcelona.

As well as the positive effect of the MWC on Catalan businesses, Vodafone’s manager for Catalonia, Albert Buxadé, also points Barcelona out in particular, due to “its important ecosystem of technology companies.” Buxadé presented the study on digitization from the Vodafone Business Observatory on Monday.

Yet, despite pointing out the gap between Catalan companies and those in Spain as a whole, the Vodafone manager said the difference “is not very great”. He also made the point that Catalan companies still lack new tech knowledge and their general level of digitization is still relatively low.

The Vodafone report, which was based on 371 interviews with top executives, finds that only 34% of companies with more than 100 employees have a digital plan. Meanwhile, only 19% of SMEs have a strategy for implementing new technology.