IT-Network for for Small and and Medium sized Enterprises

IT-Network for for Small and and Medium sized Enterprises Prof. Dr. Martin Michelson IT SME 1

Situation In the last years SME have added about 500.000 new jobs in Germany, large scale enterprises have reduced jobs by 100.000 No sufficient use of (Business-) IT-applications to increase competitiveness in a global market The lacking IT-strategy go ahead with isolated applications and insufficient data exchange with customers, suppliers, business partners and administration SME can improve their competitiveness by applying suitable ITapplications. IT SME 2

Situation Awareness about the problem is existing Heterogeneous demand on IT-solutions (no standarized solutions) Demand for small solution which are applicable in short time and easy to handle Investment on IT should not be extensive IT- providers should offer appropriate solutions and should be able to communicate the benefits of their solutions to the firms IT SME 3

Program Information Society 2010 Program of the german government to promote the IT-location Germany Annually recurring IT-meetings with high representatives of politics, business and science 8 working groups presenting the results of their work on the meetings and give recommendation for the government s politics Working group 6: IT and SME. Group members: Companies from the IT-industry, telecommunication, consulting and scientific institutions including the Hochschule Darmstadt A project group of the information science and computer science departments developed the concept Objective: IT-network for linking existing support offers and to give SME assistance in finding the partners and solutions for their IT-demands IT SME 4

Primary objective of the project Developing a web-based platform aiming to give thematically and institutional support for SME to find the right partner and solutions. Tasks: 1. Find out the special demand of SME on business IT-applications in selected industries by doing a demand analysis (desktop research, expert interviews) 2. Identify existing websites or web-based platforms which are offering neutral support and consultancy. 3. Connect relevant websites or web-based platforms in a network IT SME 5

Results Demand Analysis Essential areas of IT usage of SME: Internet as information and communication platform Procurement, customer service and data exchange on the Internet is getting relevant E-Commerce and bidding is still not very common up to now E-business solutions: Operational standard software, CRM, electronic order, charching IT SME 6

Results Demand Analysis IT areas considered as important: Electronic procurement Customer Relationship Management E-Commerce Knowledge Management, Document Management, Workflow Systems IT SME 7

Results Demand Analysis Requests of SME : Demand on basic information at smaller enterprises Demand on more specific information and solutions with rising size of enterprises Supplier-neutral consultancy offers Best Practise-solutions, check lists, guides, cost-benefit analyse IT SME 8

Results websites and platforms A lot of websites and platforms especially from official institutions like the chambers of commerce or the trade associations offer information, consultancy and support concerning IT-applications for SME. Why don t they really succeed? Missing transparency about all the offers Entrance hurdles Not user-oriented Not practise-related Consequence: Avoid a further "me too" solution IT SME 9

Hybrid Concect of Web Platform and Broker-Network Web Platform Broker-Network Presentation of certified information and consultancy offers Low barrier search approach Target group specific content and structure (enterprises, broker, experts,...) Market-place Network of certified contact persons Consolidation of existing networks Connecting and repositoring of knowledge Contact to sepcialist / providers Results and views referring to the region IT SME 10

Hybrid Concect of Web Platform and Broker-Network Search Communication via Platform, Telephone, Email, Web Platform Broker Browse Client Information and contact advise Consultation Provider Contact Expert / Provider Offers, Success Stories, Best Practices, Trends,... IT SME 11

The Broker Profile Communicator/ Multiplicator/ Networker Retrieval and consultancy competence Knowledge of business and industry sectors Arise from Chambers of commerce and trade associations Universities and institutions Enterprises IT SME 13

Facet Classification Web Platform and broker data are indexed by a facet classification Classification of offers and their contents Searching of offers and their contents Level of detail of classification depends on the individual offer Flexible, adapable, extendable IT SME 14

Facet Classification IT SME 15

Scenarios Scenarios help to present, discuss and to enhance the concept. They are helpful to develop a prototype of the platform. Depending on the scenario a different access and user interface is presented. IT SME 16

Scenario 1 The client requires information / consultancy / support relating to a specific IT-topic He phones local chamber of commerce, is being forwarded to a Broker in the network The Broker talks to the client, apprehends the demand The Broker searches the web platform The Broker presents the results or provides contact to a specialist User Interface for the Broker IT SME 17

Scenario 1: Semantic oriented IT SME 18

Scenario 2 The Client requires information / consultancy / support relating to a specific IT-topic The Client searches the web platform He finds out about offers and success stories The Client searches for regional offers, using map interface User Interface: map containing local / regional contacts IT SME 19

Scenario 2: Geo-oriented IT SME 20

Scenario 3 The client requires information / consultancy / support relating to a specific IT-topic The client searches directly for a competent contact person using the web platform He contacts the broker / the specialist User Interface: List of industry sectors and contact person; Topic Map; Zooming Grid IT SME 21

Scenario 3: Zooming Grid IT SME 22

Scenario 3: Zooming Grid IT SME 23

Scenario 3: Zooming Grid IT SME 24

Conclusion and state of activities The discussion of the concept with representatives of SME as well as chambers of commerce showed good approval. The concept was transferred into a prototype based on a server of our university linking some of the existing web-sites in the platform Problems still to be solved: - Organisation of the network - Brokers and Experts -Costs - IT SME 25