Internal self-assessment for ICT SMEs: a way forward

Abstract

Information and communication technology (ICT) is largely used as a strategic business factor. Consequently, business opportunities for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the ICT industry are potentially very strong, as they are the service and product providers. Many assume that ICT SMEs understand the importance of continuously assessing their internal activities, such as their management capabilities, technology investment strategies, and equipment provision to their employees for their competitive advantage. However, this has often not been the case and many ICT SMEs are poorly managed, less well equipped, and often the employees depend on open source software. Our previous research showed that most ICT SMEs face various challenges. In order to understand the details of these challenges, a research was conducted on two failed companies. This paper’s contribution includes detailing the side effects of lack of company’s self-assessment for its internal business activities which may reduce ICT SME’s critical challenges and failure. Also, we propose a new framework that can reduce these challenges.