The SME opportunity for IT companies in Ireland
The CSO has released the first in a series of annual reports on Small Business in Ireland. It paints a picture of the contribution of small business in Ireland, offering data on the contribution of small businesses in industry, services and construction, as well as statistics on labour costs, the knowledge economy and the labour force. It also includes international comparisons. The report is available as a pdf. The report underlines the importance of SMEs to the Irish economy by pointing out that small workplaces accounted for over 60% of the workforce.
One point of concern however is that SMEs generally make less use of more advanced Information and Communication Technology than larger enterprises. The report’s March 2006 figures show that 59% of small businesses (between 10 and 49 persons), had a website or homepage. This compares with 80% of businesses with 50 or more employees. However the point of real concern is that small businesses are less likely to adopt e-business, with only 41% indicating that they had dedicated ICT systems for managing purchases or orders, compared with 59% of larger businesses.
There is an obvious opportunity for IT companies to profit from this, but there is still a marked gap in how they communicate this deficit and illustrate the benefits of their offering. By looking through some of the other stats highlighted by the press release accompanying the report, it goes to show that one-stop solutions are far more appealing to SMEs. Instead of engaging with a number of vendors, due to time pressures and a lack of technical expertise small enterprises are looking for quick and efficient solutions.
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