Small Businesses

Due to its limited resources, and huge impact of business incase of failure or success, the adoption of IT in small business is different than in large businesses, and small business have to be more careful in IT investment decision making. IT is business enabler, and not business driver. Based on that the three main concerns I would have in the case of running a small business with no IS expertise, and all software is purchased would be Interoperation, fit for purpose, cost.

Interoperation is one of the main concerns that I would consider as a concern in small business, the need of exchanging data smoothly between systems is a critical success factor for small businesses. It might not be a concern for large businesses as they have the money to go for middleware solutions, develop integration layer between systems and so on. Small business systems need interoperation specially when introducing new software, to insure proper flow of data between systems and thus help the business achieve its goal and benefit from IT systems with less cost. A second key concern would be the selection for solutions, small business solutions requirements should be analyzed and the solution selected should be fit out of the box for the business, and part of this category the business should make sure that SLA exist between software vendors for support, reliability and maintainability. This is very important because an organization with no IS expertise should be focusing on having reliable systems due to their lack of support. Usually those businesses consider outsourced support and development services, and thus local existence of this support is mandatory. A third concern and it might be one of the most important in small businesses is cost of adoption, small businesses are short in funding specially for technology systems, as those solutions might not be justified for business owners, and IT investments might not be budgeted for in such organizations.

When spending investments in IT for small businesses multiple factors should be taken into consideration, those could be interoperation, and that the software is fit for purpose and satisfies businesses requirements with minimal overhead and support, as well solution cost and that it fits within the allocated budget as small businesses IT investments might not be justified and catered for.

Reference:

Haug, A., Pedersen, S., & Arlbjorn, J., (2011) "IT readiness in small and medium-sized enterprises", Industrial Management & Data Systems, Vol. 111 Iss: 4, pp.490 – 508, DOI: 10.1108/02635571111133515, [Online]. (Accessed 26 May 2012)

Sarosa, S. & Zowghi, D., (2003), ‘Strategy for Adopting Information Technology for SMEs:Experience in Adopting Email within an Indonesian Furniture Company’, Electronic Journal of Information Systems Evaluation Volume 6 Issue 2, (2003) 165-176, DOI: 10.1.1.68.7342 [Online]. (Accessed 26 May 2012)