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A flagship government scheme that slashes the price of leading software, boosting productivity and growth of the UK鈥檚 small businesses, will benefit even more firms from today (Monday 25 July).

With Customer Relationship Management software proven to boost firms鈥� productivity by 18% on average, the Help to Grow: Digital scheme offers businesses discounts worth up to 拢5,000 on approved software.

Previously, only businesses with more than 5 employees were eligible for the scheme. From today, businesses with at least 1 employee are now eligible to benefit. This boosts the number of eligible businesses by 760,000 so that it now reaches up to 1.24 million.

Today it鈥檚 also announced that eCommerce software is available through the scheme to help businesses ramp up sales of products and services online. This includes helping them to manage their inventory, take payments and gather data and insights on customers鈥� needs. Businesses which adopt eCommerce software see on average .

This means businesses can now access a 拢5,000 discount on 30 software solutions from 14 leading technology suppliers for eCommerce, Digital Accounting and CRM software.

Additionally, the government has announced that Help to Grow: Digital will support one-to-one advice for SMEs on how best they can adopt digital technology. The government will be launching applications for advice platforms to partner with the scheme from today, and the advice service will go live later this year.

Business Minister Lord Callanan said:

鈥淏oosting productivity isn鈥檛 some abstract concept to be sniffed at 鈥� for individual SMEs it means bigger sales and breaking into new markets. It can add 拢100 billion to the British economy overall, creating jobs and opportunity across the country.

鈥淎dopting 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鈥檙e helping to level up the UK economy and bolster the ability of our businesses to compete with the best worldwide.鈥�

Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury Alan Mak said:

鈥淓xtending our Help to Grow: Digital scheme will enable thousands more SMEs to become more innovative, more competitive, and more profitable.

鈥淗elping them adopt new technology to support customers, manage accounts and sell online will save them time and money.聽This will boost productivity and help create jobs and prosperity across the UK.鈥�

The Help to Grow: Digital sits alongside the Help to Grow: Management scheme as the government鈥檚 flagship programme to help small and medium-sized businesses to scale-up and grow.聽Help to Grow: Management offers business leaders 50 hours of leadership and management training across 12 weeks, with government covering 90% of the costs involved.

The schemes help businesses to boost their productivity and grow, which can lead to more high-skill, high-wage jobs. This is part of the government鈥檚 commitment to grow the economy to address the cost of living and level up opportunity across the UK, alongside standing behind businesses by cutting fuel duty and raising the Employment Allowance.

Martin McTague, National Chair of the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) said:

鈥淲e are very pleased to have worked hard with BEIS to adopt our ask to expand the eligibility criteria of the Help to Grow: Digital scheme to support more small businesses getting the software they need.

鈥淥ur research shows the smallest firms are least likely to have adopted tech products because of the lack of resources although they would make the most productivity gains through adoption.

鈥淚t鈥檚 good that Ministers are listening. Together with the addition of e-Commerce software and one-to-one advice for SMEs on technology adoption, this will help small businesses enhance their operations and drive efficiency and growth.

Murray Lambell, Vice President and General Manager, eBay UK said:

鈥淭his is extremely welcome news for a significant number of the 300,000 small businesses who use eBay every day to grow their business. Many of our commercial sellers are micro-businesses who are extremely entrepreneurial but inevitably time poor.

鈥淏eing able to purchase e-commerce and other productivity-enhancing software at a discount could really help give rocket boosters to what are already fast-growing businesses. And given that three quarters of our small businesses are based outside London and the South East, this also has the potential to boost the government鈥檚 Levelling Up agenda.鈥�

Notes to editors:

• To qualify for the financial discount through Help to Grow: Digital, businesses can be from any business sector, but must meet all 4 of the following criteria:
  1. be a business based in the United Kingdom registered with Companies House or be a registered society on the Financial Conduct Authorities Mutuals Register
  2. have at least 1 employee who is not an owner, up to a maximum of 249 employees
  3. have been actively trading for over 12 months, and have an incorporation date of at least 365 days prior to application
  4. be purchasing the approved software for the first time
• Eligible businesses will receive one financial discount towards the purchase of one approved software product up to a maximum of 拢5,000 (not including VAT) in eCommerce, Customer Relationship Management and Digital Accounting software product categories.
• The financial discount covers 12 months鈥� worth of approved software product core costs, exclusive of VAT.

• The approved technology suppliers on the Help to Grow: Digital online website are:

• e-Commerce software:
  • Shopwired
  • Gob2b
  • Kentico
  • Comgem
  • EKM
  • Big Commerce
• Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software
  • 颁补辫蝉耻濒别鈥�CRM
  • Zymplify
  • Livepoint Software Solutions Ltd
  • 骋辞濒诲-痴颈蝉颈辞苍鈥�CRM
  • Deskpro Ltd
• Digital Accounting software
  • Sage
  • Intuit Ltd
  • Crunch
• Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software allows businesses to store their customer contact and order data all in one secure, central location.鈥�CRM鈥痟as the capability to simplify business processes and enable businesses to be more profitable and efficient. Businesses who use鈥�CRM鈥痵ystems to manage their sales and customers see on average .
• Digital Accounting software makes essential business finance tasks like raising invoices, tracking spend, and sharing information easier to manage. Businesses who adopt Digital Accounting software see on average an .
• eCommerce software helps businesses sell their products and services online, including by streamlining management of their inventory and online shopfront, taking payments and providing data and insights on customer needs and experience. Businesses who adopt eCommerce software see on average
• The government intends to further expand the range of software on offer through Help to Grow: Digital.
• Small businesses who would like to know more about Help to Grow should visit the .