SMEs ignorant about IT

Johannesburg, 9 Nov 2010

Although almost all small and medium enterprises (SMEs) consider IT to be crucial to business success, over a quarter admit they do not know enough about IT and how to make it work for their business, according to HP research, writes CIO.

HP commissioned a survey among 1 000 UK companies employing between one and 50 employees to find out how small firms are using technology to grow their business.

The research found that only just over 36% of SMEs are deploying e-commerce strategies.

SMEs to seek corporate mobility

The SME market could experience an increased need for corporate mobility management solutions in the near future as large computing companies predict growth of enterprise mobility use in the market, says Visage Mobile.

Representatives from Cisco and Dell forecast growth for enterprise mobility among SMEs at the recent FasTech conference.

According to a Wall Street Journal report, the biggest roadblock for SMEs when it comes to going mobile has been the lack of capital. But that may change with the worst of the global economic recession passed and companies starting to focus their attention back to revenue growth.

McAfee to focus on SME segment

Security software vendor McAfee plans to put the focus on the SME segment in 2011 with a number of new channel initiatives designed to help partners drive business, reports IT Business.

At its recent Focus 2010 conference, McAfee revealed a number of new channel programmes and resources that will come online in 2011 as part of this SME focus.

Johanna Fry, worldwide channels communications manager for McAfee, said the core announcements include an SME partner acceleration initiative designed to increase partners' sales of McAfee security solutions in conjunction with increased services attach rates.