The UK government has expanded its scheme to encourage businesses to adopt new software, with an additional 760,000 businesses in Britain now eligible.
The Help to Grow: Digital Scheme slashes the price of certain new software aimed at improving business productivity. Companies can access a £5,000 discount on up to 30 software solutions.
The software already featured in the scheme includes customer relationship management software and digital accounting software.
While previously only available to companies with five or more employees, the expansion extends to firms with at least one employee. This brings the total number of eligible companies to 1.24 million.
“Extending our Help to Grow: Digital scheme will enable thousands more SMEs to become more innovative, more competitive, and more profitable,” said exchequer secretary to the Treasury Alan Mak.
“Helping them adopt new technology to support customers, manage accounts and sell online will save them time and money. This will boost productivity and help create jobs and prosperity across the UK.”
The government has also announced it will be including ecommerce software in the scheme to help businesses increase online sales of products and services.
A study from the Enterprise Research Centre found that businesses that adopt ecommerce software on average see a 7.5% increase in sales over three years.
“Boosting productivity isn’t some abstract concept to be sniffed at – for individual SMEs it means bigger sales and breaking into new markets. It can add £100 billion to the British economy overall, creating jobs and opportunities across the country,” said business minister Lord Callanan.
“Adopting the latest technology is proven to help businesses make the most of their potential, and by making more than one million firms eligible for the scheme, we’re helping to level up the UK economy and bolster the ability of our businesses to compete with the best worldwide.”
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