Canadian Small- and Medium-Sized Companies Taking ‘Big Business’ Approach to Technology

Canadian Small- and Medium-Sized Companies Taking ‘Big Business’ Approach to Technology

Canadian small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are taking a “big business” approach to their technology investments and becoming more sophisticated, according to findings released today from the Net Impact SME Canada 2006 study. The complete report, part of the Cisco® Net Impact Research Series, which measures the effects of information and communication technologies (ICT) on business processes, can be found at http://newsroom.cisco.com/dlls/global/canada/NetImpactCAN2006.pdf

Net Impact SME Canada 2006 reports that the ICT infrastructures of small- and medium-sized businesses are becoming increasingly similar to those of larger enterprises – a shift fueled by the need for SMEs to strengthen their relationships with their customers and remain competitive. Meeting the demands of customers is cited as the primary driver of investment for almost a third of the study’s respondents; 25 per cent of the companies cited increased competition.

“We’ve seen a marked change over the last decade, with Canadian businesses becoming far more strategic in their approach to technology investment,” said Jay Shutter, managing director of Illuminas, the global market intelligence firm that conducted the survey on behalf of Cisco Canada. “Previously, with most SMEs, technology was about simply getting the job done. Now, SME business and technology strategies are increasingly aligned, and IT is being harnessed to drive customer engagement with more sophisticated customer relationship management and enterprise software applications.”

Read the complete Press Release