Information Technology Integration to Promote SMEs Productivities and Sustainability

Abstract

Abstract As the Small and Medium-size Enterprises (SMEs) are essential to any nations’ economy, so is the alignment of Information Technologies in improving business agility, sustainability and productivity. The aim of this article is to critically assess the level of business and IT infrastructure alignment with the SMEs. Data were collected from 230 SMEs in Nigeria and South Africa, and statistical software was used to analyse and present results. The findings indicated a lack of partnerships between IT and business units/department (r = -.265), and this negatively affected the SMEs ability to maximise the potential of their employees due to lack or inability of the IT and business department to collaborate (r = -.167) in order to increase operational agility. Furthermore, the SMEs ability to integrate their IT infrastructure with the scope of their IT architecture is very low, but barely above average (µ = 2.98). However, the SMEs compliance with the IT standards were robust (µ = 4.07), with the level of IT alignment with their business processes (µ = 3.08) reaching level three. Furthermore, these firms have developed an established strategy to handle IT disruption to business operations (µ = 3.42), due to a flexible scope of IT infrastructure (µ = 3.47) with their business and IT environment. Nevertheless, the study concluded that the SMEs must achieve between level 4 and 5 of business-IT alignment, to be able to withstand rapid disruption from more sophisticated technologies and volatile business environment.