Information Systems for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises

Enterprise governance of IT is the responsibility of the top layer of an entity to ensure IT is effective and efficient and provides value to the enterprise while keeping risks to an acceptable level. Enterprise governance of IT focuses on IT Value and IT Risk and consists of practices, organisational structures and relationships between executive and management. In Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SME’s) however, these structures and relationships very often rest in one person, the owner/entrepreneur. The CobiT framework helps managers deal with enterprise governance of IT. It is however too large and complex for application in SME’s and hence a simpler version called QuickStart was developed. It is not yet aligned with the latest version of CobiT5 and therefore does not sufficiently cover governance aspects. CobiT and QuickStart will be introduced but because the latter may still be too much for the smaller SME’s, a reduced version is proposed. The biggest value and risk challenge for SME’s is the acquisition of automated solutions because they often do not have sufficient capabilities to deal with it; they do not occur often and represent a relatively large risk. To address this, a set of acquisition guidelines is proposed. Finally four management practices that resulted from recent pragmatic research are proposed for SME leadership to consider.

Small Businesses account for a significant portion of the Australian business sector. With Business Process Management (BPM) gaining prominence in recent decades as a means of improving business performance, it would seem to only be a matter of time before it gains momentum within the Small Business sector. One may even question why it has not already achieved more traction within the sector. This case study involves a BPM initiative to develop process infrastructure in an establishing Small Business. It explores whether mainstream BPM tools, techniques and technologies can be applied in a Small Business setting. The chapter provides a background to the case organisation, outlines the activities undertaken in the BPM initiative and distils key observations drawn from participation in the initiative and consultation with stakeholders. Based on the case study experiences, a number of implications are identified for further consideration by the BPM discipline as it continues to address the question of how it can become more widely adopted amongst Small Businesses.

Information Technology (IT) security is an issue which cannot be wished away by organizations and particularly Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). SMEs should embrace IT security in order to realize the benefits of IT without compromising the IT security status. Much like any other business asset, information is an asset that needs to be strategically managed and protected. It is therefore imperative that SMEs understand the value of information contained within their business systems and have a framework for assessing and implementing IT security. To address challenges faced by SMEs especially in Kenya, this research establishes an Information Technology (IT) framework that can allow Kenyan SMEs implement cost effective security measures. Particularly this work considers IT security requirements and appropriate metrics. There is evidence from the research to suggest that despite having some IT security measures in place, Kenyan SMEs still face some serious IT security challenges. In the light of the challenges faced by Kenyan SMEs, this work recommends a framework which is supposed among other things provide metrics of evaluating the effectiveness of implemented security measures. The framework is likely to assist SME stakeholders measure the effectiveness of their security enhancing mechanisms.

On the one hand, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are important drivers of economy. SMEs face a number of problems due to a lack of structure and overview of the company. On the other hand, enterprise architecture (EA) can be used as a holistic approach to keep things aligned in a company. Some emphasize the use of EA to align IT with the business, others see it broader and use it to also keep the processes aligned with the strategy. This article refers to solutions that EA can bring to the problems regarding a lack of structure and overview in companies. While EA has gained importance in larger companies and EA can also provide similar benefits to SMEs, hardly any article discusses EA for SMEs. An exploratory research in Flemish SMEs confirms that in practice none of the SMEs knows or uses EA. It is clear that there still exists a gap between EA and SMEs. The main goal of this article is first investigating why EA is not yet adopted by SMEs, despite the benefits EA can offer. Adoption models offer insight in the adoption process. Second, this article offers a starting point for EA technique developers to really adapt EA techniques to an SME context. Research steps are given to start developing EA techniques, as well as a starting point for a metamodel based on only four concepts, because the characteristics of SMEs emphasize the need of simple EA techniques. These concepts refer to four dimensions that are present in a broad spectrum of EA techniques.

Small or Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) constitute a significant portion with in the world economy, especially for developing countries. In this context, the use of information technologies (IT) brought a leverage to gain competitive advantage in the market. In that regard, effective use of IT is vital to maintain successful business operations. Since assessment bring the improvement with it, assessment of IT use in SMEs would enhance business operations as well as organizational processes. This chapter presents an exploratory study with the practice of a new model for assessment of IT use in SMEs, which is called ITMEM: Information Technology Management Enhancement Model. This model aims to enhance IT management and processes within 5 domains (Identification, Selection, Acquisition, Exploitation and Protection) which brings together the organizational use of IT in a coherent whole. The model was developed upon a three-folded structure including (1) academic studies in technology management, (2) best practices which are developed for control over IT operations and processes including COBIT, CMMI and ITIL, and (3) standards about IT management and IT security. Data was collected by survey method including quantitative and qualitative approaches. Results were statistically tested for reliability and consistency. The findings were presented as strengths and weakness of cases in terms of IT use. In addition to that, implications about IT awareness, its utilization and protection, importance of assessment and relationship between organizational processes and IT use were reported. Interviews have been conducted with senior level personnel of IT departments in companies. The results presented that practicing assessment in companies is encouraging in terms of IT use by employees and increasing quality of business processes. The reported findings would be valuable asset for researchers who are developing a model, and for practitioners who are developing managerial implications about IT management and IT use in SMEs. In addition to that, it is believed that the research will contribute to literature in terms of implementing IT assessment on cases of SMEs.

SMEs are of vital importance for our economy and society. However, they lag behind in their adoption of ICT, particularly interorganisational ICT. Many countries have put policy programmes in place to improve SMEs on this aspect. Previous research provides unclear evidence on the effectiveness of these programs. With this study we aim to provide new insight into the impact of such policy choices on ICT adoption. Through a survey among a relatively large sample of SME participants (n = 516) and a matched control group (n = 124) of non-participating SMEs, we assess a policy programme that ran in the Netherlands from 2002 to 2007. Participants are found to use significantly more interorganisational ICT and also more often find that ICT has enhanced their firm’s performance compared to the control group. However, pre-selection effects cannot be ruled out. Based on our results, we suggest basic, awareness-focused policy programmes, as opposed to complex, government supported implementation processes.

This paper will outline the findings of a long term survey among thirty small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the Czech Republic and will describe the important factors related to barriers to adoption of information technology and information systems. This qualitative survey of the examined companies was made by using multiple interviews, monitoring the attitudes of the management to the information and communication technology (ICT), using ICT as a competitive advantage, use of various types of applications and their impact on the organisation’s performance. We can see that managers or owners of SMEs are, however, often afraid of the organisational and financial demands of implementation of ICT. From the successfully growing companies we analysed the importance of establishing business, information and knowledge strategy. Without the articulation of these strategies companies will, with difficulty, find their way in the current business environment. These three strategies have to be followed by other supporting strategies, i.e. marketing, finance and human resources.

Increasing competitive pressures due to globalization and the prevalence of the e-business model have changed dramatically the environment in which Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) operate. To remain competitive, SMEs find that they need to invest in information and communication technologies and especially in modern integrated business software. However, state-of-the-art propriety Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems are not only too expensive but also too complex to install for the majority of SMEs. Viable alternative options, such as Free and Open Source ERP (FOS/ERP) software, are increasingly gaining attention by SMEs worldwide. Considering the scarcity of research on non-commercial ERP systems, the objective of this chapter is to provide an insight regarding the adoption decision made by SMEs regarding FOS-ERP software. The chapter aims at informing scholars, students, researcher managers of the issues and the risks involved and the factors influencing the decision of SMEs to adopt FOS-ERP software.

Customer relationship management is a common tool in large enterprises; yet it seems not to be successful with small- and medium-sized enterprises (SME). We conducted a survey to analyse the state-of-the-art customer relationship management systems and the degree of pervasion in SME. The survey covers 253 SMEs from North Germany and evaluates the available systems, desired and actually delivered functionality, integration in the Information Technology landscape, client satisfaction, and arguments about benefits and drawbacks of current CRM-systems. The main contribution of the chapter is improving the awareness of the importance that CRM has specifically for SMEs and benefits which SMEs can gain using CRM.

This chapter evaluates the determinants of enterprise resource planning (ERP) usage among small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). We empirically test six determinants (compatibility, complexity, efficiency, best-practices, training and competitive pressure) based on the diffusion of innovation (DOI) model to explain ERP actual usage across four European countries. Through structural equation modelling (SEM) on a dataset of 883 web-surveyed firms, we explore the differences and similarities in usage across Denmark, Portugal, Sweden, and Spain. The cross-country analysis reveals that while for Portuguese and Swedish firms, SMEs system compatibility is an important facilitator for ERP usage; it is an inhibitor for Danish firms. Moreover, whereas system complexity is an important inhibitor for ERP usage in Portuguese and Danish firms, it is a facilitator for Spanish firms. Additionally, while for Portuguese, Danish, and Swedish firms, transactional efficiency is significant, it is not so for Spanish firms. In addition, best-practices and competitive pressure are important determinants of ERP usage for all SMEs across all countries. Training is an important facilitator for Portuguese and Spanish SMEs. The main finding is that Portuguese and Spanish SMEs show different results despite the fact that they seem to be so similar and the same prevails among Danish and Swedish SMEs. The fact that this research is based on a large-scale survey across countries makes it important to understand the actual ERP usage among SMEs, alongside its value in adding an international dimension to the DOI literature.

This study examines a failed enterprise resource planning (ERP) implementation in a small-and-medium-sized enterprise (SME). The improper handling of critical success factors (CSFs), particularly those relating to support from top management, project management, and the use of consultants, led to severe problems. This placed stress on the organization, caused employees to leave the company, workarounds, and led to serious errors in the systems and a significant cost overrun. This case study contributes to the literature on ERP implementation in SMEs. In particular, it contributes to our understanding of the socio-technical dynamics of ERP implementation projects. Failed ERP cases are little documented in the Information Systems (IS) research literature and can yield insight into the complexity of ERP implementation projects and further our understanding of what may take place if CSFs are not handled properly.

This study examines the existing literature on marketing information systems in small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) for the period of 2002–2012 in order to identify active research area, emerging topics and gaps in the literature. We have encountered 48 empirical studies conducted on SMEs and investigated applications of information systems to marketing. In the review, studies are categorized on the bases of journal, research area, publication year, country, and research design. The categorization leads to six main research areas namely adoption, competitive strategy, e-marketing, performance outcomes, customer relationship management, and distribution strategy. Then, patterns in past research are identified and future research areas are provided.

Small and medium-sized enterprises have found their way into multi-cultural relations to outsource or offshore their business processes. Relationships are built either from an economic or emotional point of view. Our study particularly focused on how SMEs owner/managers build, maintain, and–when necessary–exit their relationships with other SMEs by using trust as a core element. We have chosen for a qualitative research strategy by conducting semi-structured interviews in The Netherlands, Germany, UK, Denmark and Sweden. The countries selected are representatives of the application of Northern-European and Anglo-Saxon business models. Our results suggest that trust is of the essence in the relationship building process and that the perception of trust needs to be understood and managed in multi-cultural relations by all parties involved. We can also conclude from our results that SMEs are intrinsically inclined to base their offshore activities on trust. For practical reasons, partners in relationships need to be educated and trained how to build trust in multi-cultural relations. Future research should focus on the firms’ culture to examine the influence on trustful multi-culture relationships.

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) by their very nature differ from multinational enterprises (MNEs); this means that the knowledge management (KM) approach for SMEs differs from that implemented by a larger organisation. However, there remains an absence of empirical evidence that highlights how SMEs operationalise their approach to KM, particularly in the high-technology sectors. Unquestionably, KM has established considerable focus in MNEs during the past decade, it is therefore imperative that policy makers engage SMEs in order to better comprehend the role of SMEs in the global economy. In view of the current economic turbulence, never has it been more important to focus on the knowledge capabilities of software SMEs, as it is on the back of these types of small high-tech organisations that innovation, growth and potential recovery will be realised. Pursuing a qualitative analysis approach using multiple case studies, this chapter examines the knowledge capabilities in five Irish software SMEs with the objective of developing a greater understanding of an SME’s approach to KM and therefore developing an actionable way of assessing how important knowledge is managed, in this type of organisation. The transcripts derived from twenty eight interviews conducted were coded in order to identify the types of knowledge activities (KA) and modes of knowledge processing used to serve the knowledge needs of these organisations. Leveraging the empirical findings from the five cases, this study uncovered significant consistency across the knowledge focus of the five organisations, in software development, project and product knowledge. Depending on the company focus, niche knowledge types were also revealed. While the total number of KAs varied from firm to firm, it was discovered that software SMEs are good at knowledge transfer activity. This finding is largely attributed to the size and the focused business objectives of these firms. Surprisingly, knowledge creation activity was low and explained by the management style, where a small number of people, typically management, drive knowledge creation activity.

Industrial companies collaborating to develop new products need to implement the effective management of their product design processes (PDPs) and product information. PDPs are known for their changing, emergent and non-deterministic characteristics due to the business environment within which they are executed. Unfortunately, Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) systems, which are dedicated to support product design activities, are not as efficient as might be expected. PLM systems are based on workflow technology, which does not support PDP’s agility. Process support flexibility requirements, are necessary in order to facilitate coupling with the business reality. Furthermore, systems based on Service Oriented Architectures (SOA) have the inherent ability to evolve. We believe that SOA can promote the support of flexible PDPs. The aim of the work presented in this chapter is to propose an alternative approach for flexible product design process support within PLM systems, by making profiles from SOA. The objective is to specify, design and implement PDPs in a very flexible manner, in order to ensure that business changes can be rapidly made in PLM solutions. A generic services identification approach is proposed for architecting agile process-centered service-based information systems.

Newly evolved technologies and multi-faceted researches along the setting of entrepreneurship development, philosophy, framework and business handling have been transformed from being traditional to innovative. Depending on the demand, diversity and nature of the transformation, innovation has been shifted from closed to open paradigm. Ranging from micro to small or, medium to corporate houses are being immensely benefited by the innovation techniques, especially utilizing information and communication technologies (ICTs). However, the road to innovation; despite being seen or taken as a paradigm shift is not quite smooth and not even ready for many, particularly the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) who mainly deal with the clients at the outer peripheries of the social circle. In spite of being a major economic contributor in many countries, SMEs suffer from various challenges, of inherited nature, often controlled by the social, economic, geographical or cultural grounds and reasons beyond control. This study synthesizes issues of prospects and challenges in adopting open innovation for SMEs by carrying out a longitudinal literature review. Furthermore, the chapter provides a few research hints for researchers and research institutions.

Small and medium enterprises need external assistance to accomplish their information systems initiatives. Governments have been addressing this by funding numerous programmes. The aim of the chapter is to understand these programmes. Doing so, the analysis focused on the discretion in programme worker activities and the contexts that influence workers’ choices. The findings indicate that programme workers tend to exert considerable discretion. This discretion appears to be the result of inadequate evaluation and auditing mechanisms, a probable collaboration of policy administrators, as well as broad and ambiguous policies. Apart from this, programmes tend to operate within problematic contexts. These contexts are composed of poor evaluation mechanisms, power of programmes over SMEs, scarcity of resources, low demand for programme services and alienation of workers. A relevant implication is that the improvement of contexts could also reduce discretion. However, the actors that could do this are located at diverse parts of the system. Therefore, the reform of programmes is a difficult task given the priorities and power of the participants. Finally, the chapter suggests that SME associations may represent a counteractive force to these policy influences in order to materialise policy reforms.

Many small and medium-sized enterprises still seem to rely on very basic information systems, often including self-developed applications based on office suits, such as spreadsheet and database programs. However, this end-user development activity is often supported modestly, if at all, in organisations. Using on-line sources would be one way to alleviate these issues, but which source would or should developers pick to use? This paper presents and argues a framework of four key factors: context, cooperation, interactivity, and immediacy that, it is argued, influence end-user developers’ ability to obtain/use development support. These four factors which were derived from an extensive literature review are used to analyse and compare the effectiveness of several existing support sources (mainly focusing on the on-line versions) for end-user developers: personal contacts; help desks; trial and error; several different knowledge repositories; virtual communities and Internet searches. Based on this analysis, tempered with the perceived needs of (mainly novice) developers from real life situations, the paper concludes that virtual communities is the most suitable support source (in the sense that it fulfils needs that developers may or may not be ware of), especially for this category of end-user developers.

Most Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) hardly dare to extend their business abroad alone. For example, in Italy only 7% of Small Business operators are active in international business. They often do not have a dedicated export department or the resources to analyze the market in depth, they do not speak the language and they are not fully independent in evaluating potential partners. However, there are a large number of portals that provide ad-hoc services to help SMEs grow internationally. This chapter analyzes the existing Internet technologies that can support SMEs in their internationalization process, emphasizing the study of web-based platforms. We propose two classifications to categorize portals and websites based on the services provided.