The government’s e-commerce policy for the transformation of SMEs
into e-SMEs will not happen unless national policy is delivered at
a local level.
Research carried out by the Learning Economies Programme revealed
the government’s drive to get the UK’s countless SMEs on-line and
involved in e-commerce marketplaces has to be delivered through
local and regional agencies and networks of business support
centres.
But local and regional training and enterprise councils (TECs),
of which there are between 80 and 90 around the country, are to
close on 27 March, after which their work will be continued by
sub-regional learning and skills councils.
The Learning Economies Programme is a syndicated research
programme that brings together a number of key partners —
government departments, NTOs and local learning and skills agencies
— to ensure a thorough understanding of the links between the real
needs of SMEs and the e-policies and e-services being offered to
them.
Mark Hepworth of the Local Futures Group presented a report on
the results of the programme’s research in west London. The
specific aim was to understand the market for ICT and e-commerce
services delivered to SMEs through the west London-based Executive
Studio training facility and to identify policy directions for the
TECs.
“The key finding of the research is there are two digital
divides that SMEs have to cross and, by corollary, e-commerce
support providers have to address,” he said.
“The first — connectivity — is relatively simple and risk-free.
The second — using e-commerce to grow your business — entails a
move from existing business practices to full on-line trading,
effectively a new business model,” he added.
Hepworth suggested it would place great strain on finances and
capacity for change — things that SMEs do not have.
Providing support
The Executive Studio aims to help companies and individuals make
the most of IT, providing training and consultancy, as well as
offering state-of-the-art facilities for events and business
meetings.
With the closure of TECs, the Executive Studio sees a role for
itself in continuing to support the rapid transformation in
technology for SMEs.
To achieve its aim, Colin Glass, CEO of Executive Studio, said:
“You need to understand how SMEs think and what motivates them.
SMEs also like to learn with their peers and from each other. They
need help with training, but the training should come in bite-sized
chunks. These are all things we are looking to do at the
Studio.”
Research has also been conducted on the approach of the vendors
to try and understand the major IT suppliers’ level of interest in
the SME market.
According to Mary Morrison-Paton, research director at DPA,
venvdors were convinced the channel remained the key to the SME
market. Adding value was seen predominantly as the task of their
partners.
With only limited resources, “how can the SME market trust the
vendors or the channel to deliver independent consultancy while
sales teams are remunerated on product sales?”, she concluded.