Some 75 percent of the small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) in the Asia Pacific region do not have devoted information technology managers, and, thus, IT-related decisions are made by top executives and non-technical managers, according to research firm International Data Corp. (IDC) which hosted a conference on SMBs in Manila recently.

The conference brought together IT suppliers and experts who discussed potential solutions to IT-related issues which top executives, non-technical people, as well as IT-savvy personnel in SMBs normally encounter.

Not so long ago, vendors traditionally focused on offering IT products and services for larger enterprises, leaving SMBs at a loss for simplified solutions suited to their ?scaled-down needs.? Today, vendors are rushing to take advantage of the growing interest in IT solutions among SMBs. The IDC conference was designed to provide SMBs with the full scope of the IT options available to them today.

?I expect to learn a lot from this conference,? said delegate Ma. Theresa Abiog of Abiog Enterprises in an interview with Computerworld Philippines. ?I hope to get strategies which may be beneficial for the growth of our business.? According to her, she seldom misses opportunities like this conference to interact with other entrepreneurs and to find new ways of bolstering the competitiveness of their ?fuel saver? ionizer/resonator distribution business.

National SME Agenda

The government was well represented in the SMB conference as Department of Trade and Industry undersecretary for SME development Mel Capistrano Alonzo and Commission on Information and Communications Technologies (CICT) commissioner Damian Domingo ?Dondi? Mapa each discussed the roles their respective government units play in promoting the growth of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the country.

Alonzo encouraged conference delegates to adopt ICT in their business in order to become ?world-class and to face global competition.? Emphasizing how ICT can help SMBs gain more exposure and expand market reach, she discussed the National SME Agenda and enumerated the various ICT services available to these small enterprises today. Under this national agenda, the government offers assistance in the form of international trade fairs, buying and selling missions, international marketing, and entrepreneurship training.

Alonzo further discussed how the department has teamed up with the CICT to offer assistance to SMBs so they can have management information systems. The DTI undersecretary also gave out details on how SMB owners may avail themselves of free online consultation. DTI is also a member of the ASEAN +3 network where SMBs can promote their products for free. DTI encourages more SMEs to join the network as there are now more than 900 Philippine SMEs members.

Global Backbone

?The SMB market is fast becoming the backbone of the global economy,? said Harrison Li, SMB marketing manager for Intel Asia Pacific. Li discussed the importance of technology for business and how to use technology to evolve every area of the company. He summarized a three-way process which Intel believes is beneficial for all SMBs: ?evolve, solve, and succeed.?

Elaborating, Li stressed that for SMBs to become highly competitive, they should ?evolve? by understanding the practical needs of their business; ?solve? by tailoring technology solutions for their present and future needs; and ?succeed? by using technology to improve their bottom line.

Arnie Alvarez, solution architect for EMC Philippines, outlined how technology can easily create, share, and ensure the safety of vital company data. ?The strategic use of information is increasingly at the heart of many successful business models,? he noted. ?The safety of data is a top priority for IT and business leaders in SMBs.?

He encouraged SMB owners to ?start small and think big.? Alvarez advised SMBs to consolidate through networked storage ? now made more simple and affordable specifically for small firms ? to achieve easier storage management, better data protection, and faster backup and information recovery.

Ng Buck Seng, associate director of manufacturing research in IDC Asia/Pacific, shared some trends that are shaping the SMB business environment and discussed how strategic supply chain management and IT would enable SMEs to become more competitive.