Evaluating it Usage in Small and Medium Sized Enterprises

Abstract

UK and European governments have recognised the small business sector as a key element in future economic prosperity. A vital element of enhancing the performance of this business sector is the integral use of Information Technology (IT) in order to foster an innovation culture. A variety of national and European initiatives have been funded specifically to assist adoption of innovative technology, including IT, by Small and Medium sized Enterprises (SMEs). Techniques are required to measure the impact on SMEs of such initiatives. We have developed a method to enable quantitative evaluation of IT usage in SMEs. The method has been developed from principles applied in larger organisations and seeks to quantify patterns of IT usage, and so measure their change over time. The method was tested by evaluating IT usage in 120 SMEs which have participated in a government funded, IT-based Technology Transfer Initiative. This pilot application demonstrates that the proposed method provides an effective tool, enabling numerical analyses and graphical representations of IT usage patterns to be produced. Its major advantages are that it is simple to apply, non-intrusive and capable of retrospective appli-cation, enabling the assessment to be carried out easily and without disrupting the SME’s business.