The Small Business Digital Adaptation Program has been launched by the Victorian Government to allow eligible small businesses to trial and access digital products to optimise their digital capability in day-to-day operations.
What does the Small Business Digital Adaptation program provide?
An eligible business will be able to receive one purchase rebate of $1,200 to cover 12 months’ access to a digital product available under this program.
Who is eligible for the Small Business Digital Adaptation program ?
This program is available to small businesses, sole traders and micro businesses. To be eligible your business must:
- operate a business located in Victoria
- hold an Australian Business Number (ABN)
- have held that ABN on 13 September 2019
- be registered for Goods and Services Tax (GST) on 13 September 2020.
If you are a Not-for-profit entities that is not registered for GST and you are registered with the Australian Charities and Not-for-Profit Commission you will be eligible to apply.
What can I purchase with the $1,200 from the the Small Business Digital Adaptation program?
The product that you choose must be:
- a new product not currently used by the business, or
- an upgrade of an existing product with additional product features providing specific digital adaptation capability (for example, upgrading an existing website to an e-commerce site), or
- a product available under the program that has been used by the business before (more than one year ago) that it would like to resume using.
Registered businesses can participate in training and workshops shown in the training calendar available on the dedicated program page after registering.
The Small Business Digital Adaptation Program will not cover the cost of:
- renewals of existing product or software licences, or
- minor updates to existing products (for example, a software version update), or
- products that are not available under the program.
What Digital products can be purchased?
To qualify for a purchase rebate your business must purchase a digital product available under the program.
The Victorian Government is currently partnering with six digital product suppliers for this program. These include:
- Mr Yum — food and beverage
- MYOB — business management
- Xero — business management
- Shopify — end-to-end retail
- Square — end-to-end retail
- Squarespace — website creation
More suppliers are expected to be added to the list in early 2021. The high level of interest from product providers wanting to be part of the program means this will be later than first expected.
What Steps need to be taken to participate in the program?
- Complete the online registration form to confirm eligibility and participate in product trials and workshops.
- Sign up for and purchase their preferred digital product through one of the partner product suppliers available under this program.
- Apply for the purchase rebate of $1,200 to cover 12 months’ access to the product of choice.
What will happen after you complete the online registration form?
- You will receive an email thanking you for registering in the Small Business Adaptation Program. This email will include a link to trials and workshops in relation to the participating digital products. You will be able to access unlimited free training and workshops and multiple free product trials after you register.
- You will be invited by email to apply for a purchase rebate one month after registering. As this is a purchase rebate program, you must sign up for and purchase an available digital product before you apply. The rebate application is an online form. All questions should be answered and information provided to ensure your eligibility for a rebate. This includes proof of your digital product purchase.
- You will be contacted by email six weeks after you apply for a rebate to confirm you have begun to adapt your business to a digital operating environment. Your rebate will be paid after you confirm continued product use.
- You will be contacted to participate in an evaluation survey after six and 12 months to help the Victorian Government understand the program impact.
- You will need to pay the ongoing costs following the first 12 months covered by the program.
Key Dates
The program will be open from 15 November 2020 to 31 March 2021.
Registrations for digital product trials and workshops will remain open from 15 November 2020 until 28 February 2021.
To participate in the program, businesses must register before the trial period closes on 28 February 2021.
Applications for purchase rebates to cover 12 months’ product access will be open from 1 December 2020 to 11.59pm on 31 March 2021, or until funds are exhausted.
Links
If you have any questions or require any assistance in registering and applying for this program please contact us on 1300 978 320 or info@spire-business.com.au
