More of 100 small and medium enterprises and representatives of the business fabric have met at IE Tower, the new headquarters of IE University in Madrid, to analyze the challenges of digital transformation in business management, in an event that has put the finishing touch to the scholarship program Santander X Training | Digitize your SME powered by Santander Bank through Santander Universitiesin collaboration with IE University, through IE Foundation. This joint program has provided 3,000 training scholarships on challenges of digitization for SMEs with a turnover between 2 and 50 million euros.
The event was inaugurated by Gonzalo Garland, Executive Vice President of IE Foundation and by Blanca Sagastume, Global Director of Santander Universities, Open Innovation & Blockchain and has counted on director of companies of Santander Spain, Asier Gonzálezfor its closure.
“We live in times of change in which digital transformation has a leading role in business strategy, a phenomenon accelerated by the pandemic and by the technological revolution that affects all sectors. Therefore, for us, at IE University, it is a privilege to work with Santander Universities on this initiative that provides thousands of scholarships for boost business talent” said Gonzalo Garland, Executive Vice President of the IE Foundation of IE University
Blanca Sagastume has pointed out that at Santander Universities “we seek improve employability in the communities in which we work and for this we have different initiatives aimed at both people and businesses. The program Digitize your SME born to help acquire the necessary skills for the management of the digital transformation of SMEs that are a fundamental part of our business fabric and fundamental creators of employment”.
During his speech, the director of companies of Santander Spain, Asier González, highlighted the advantages that new technologies entail for improve productivity of the companies, the efficiency and the level of competitiveness, the knowledge of the client and the window that opens to the SMEs for their international expantion.
González also pointed out that Banco Santander is accompanying many SMEs in their digital transformation and that this will be a turning point for many in their ability to grow and do so in a more sustainable way.
Santander already has more than 51 million digital customers worldwide, six of them in Spain. 80% of bank transfers are already made through online banking or App and digital sales have increased in the last year and now account for 55% of the total.
