More than 6,000 small businesses in Victoria have signed up to use a digital voucher scheme offered by the state government, as eight new providers are this week added to the list of vendors.
Announced in November 2020, the Small Business Digital Adaptation Program provides eligible Victorian small and micro businesses, including sole traders, with rebates for selected digital products, as an incentive to build their digital capabilities.
To access the rebates, businesses must first trial and then purchase one of the approved digital products, before receiving a rebate of $1,200 to use the product or service for 12 months.
On Friday, the Victorian government announced it has added eight new providers to the list of software companies participating in the program.
The new vendors are QuickBooks Online, Reckon Limited, Lawpath, Ecwid Inc, Trade Trak, the Australian Good Food Guide, ServiceM8 and the Victorian Automobile Chamber of Commerce.
These providers offer services ranging from accounting and legal services to trades management and restaurant reservations.
They join existing vendors MYOB, XERO, Squarespace, Square, Shopify and Mr Yum.
A spokesperson for Victorian Small Business Minister Jaala Pulford told SmartCompany it is possible additional service providers will be added to the program and this will depend in part on demand from small businesses.
To date, more than 6,250 Victorian businesses have signed up for the free trial stage of the program.
“Digital capability is vital for many businesses and we know that not every operator can afford those initial outlays that might produce a significant return,” said Minister Pulford in a statement.
The $20 million program, which also offers business owners access to free training and workshops through Small Business Victoria, is part of the state government’s business support measures released in response to the COVID-19 economic crisis.
Businesses have until February 28 to sign up for a product trial or workshop under the program.
More information about the Small Business Digital Adaptation Program, including details of where to sign up, is available from the Business Victoria website here.
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Eloise is an experienced business journalist and editor, who has held senior editorial roles at SmartCompany since 2014. Prior to joining SmartCompany, Eloise was news editor at Books+Publishing, the trade press for the Australian book industry. Eloise has degrees in media and communications, marketing and business management, and political science. You can follow her on LinkedIn, and Twitter at @ellykeating.
