{"id":2141,"slug":"statcan-bdc-2021-118k-digital-tech-spend","title":"StatCan / BDC 2021 — 91% of Canadian SMEs spent avg $118K on digital technologies","kind":"reference","scope":"business","status":"current","audiences":["kevin","candid-team"],"topics":["smb-seo-budget-norms","canadian-smb-digital-maturity"],"reference_body":"**Claim:** Statistics Canada / BDC: in 2021, **91% of SMEs spent an average of $118,000 on digital technologies** (broad tech, not just marketing).\n\n**Source:** Statistics Canada via BDC (Canadian Crown bank). Government / authoritative.\n\n**Confidence:** Single-source / authoritative.\n\n**Why this matters for Candid:** Distinct from marketing spend — this is broad digital-tech investment (CRM, accounting software, e-commerce platforms, etc). Useful Canadian context but not directly comparable to the marketing-budget benchmarks. Clarifies that the marketing-spend $30K/yr figure ([[bdc-canada-marketing-spend]]) is a SUBSET, not the whole digital story.","rationale_body":null,"metadata":null,"links":{"outgoing":[],"incoming":[{"slug":"research-brief-smb-widget-spend-benchmarks-june-2026","title":"Research brief: SMB widget spend benchmarks — feasibility of a \"digital-minus-ads\" % of revenue (June 2026)","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"relates-to"}]},"created_at":"2026-06-23T20:03:31.518Z","updated_at":"2026-06-23T20:03:31.518Z"}