Assessment of Information Technology Use in Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises: Empirical Investigation in Five Cases

Abstract

Small or Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) constitute a significant portion with in the world economy, especially for developing countries. In this context, the use of information technologies (IT) brought a leverage to gain competitive advantage in the market. In that regard, effective use of IT is vital to maintain successful business operations. Since assessment bring the improvement with it, assessment of IT use in SMEs would enhance business operations as well as organizational processes. This chapter presents an exploratory study with the practice of a new model for assessment of IT use in SMEs, which is called ITMEM: Information Technology Management Enhancement Model. This model aims to enhance IT management and processes within 5 domains (Identification, Selection, Acquisition, Exploitation and Protection) which brings together the organizational use of IT in a coherent whole. The model was developed upon a three-folded structure including (1) academic studies in technology management, (2) best practices which are developed for control over IT operations and processes including COBIT, CMMI and ITIL, and (3) standards about IT management and IT security. Data was collected by survey method including quantitative and qualitative approaches. Results were statistically tested for reliability and consistency. The findings were presented as strengths and weakness of cases in terms of IT use. In addition to that, implications about IT awareness, its utilization and protection, importance of assessment and relationship between organizational processes and IT use were reported. Interviews have been conducted with senior level personnel of IT departments in companies. The results presented that practicing assessment in companies is encouraging in terms of IT use by employees and increasing quality of business processes. The reported findings would be valuable asset for researchers who are developing a model, and for practitioners who are developing managerial implications about IT management and IT use in SMEs. In addition to that, it is believed that the research will contribute to literature in terms of implementing IT assessment on cases of SMEs.

Appendix A. Sample List of Survey Questions of ITMEM

The actual survey consisted of 64 questions. The following 16 questions are presented to give the idea of how survey questions have been developed.

Survey questions	References	Related section of the references
	For each question, the first row of references represents the primary reference as the source, and the following rows are supportive references
Identification
To what degree does IT take place in main strategic business goals?	Rush, H. Bessant, J. Hobday, M. Assessing the technological capabilities of firms: developing a policy tool, R&D Management, 2007, vol. 37, pp. 221–36	Awareness
	COBIT 4.1, IT governance Institute, 2007	Plan and organize 1.4.
	ISO 38500—Cooperate Governance of Information Technology, ISO/IEC, 2008	Strategy
	CMMI, Software Engineering Institute, 2008	Strategic service management
Please degree the importance of certificate and standards about IT for your company	AIA0109—Technology capability survey, Enterprise Europe Network, 2009	“What are the certifications that are aimed to acquire by the company?”
	COBIT 4.1, IT governance Institute, 2007	Plan and organize 3.4.
	ISO 38500—Cooperate Governance of Information Technology, ISO/IEC, 2008	Conformance
To what degree IT performance and efficiency are measured in the company?	ISO 38500—Cooperate Governance of Information Technology, ISO/IEC, 2008	Performance: “Does IT support business processes with the required capability and capacity?”
	COBIT 4.1, IT governance Institute, 2007	Plan and organize 1.3; deliver and support 3.3; monitor and evaluate 1.1–1.6
	CMMI, Software Engineering Institute, 2008	Organizational process performance
Selection
To what degree are businesses goals in accordance with IT structure?	ISO 38500—Cooperate Governance of Information Technology, ISO/IEC, 2008	Strategy: “Does IT align with organizations objectives?”
	COBIT 4.1, IT governance Institute, 2007	Acquire and implement 1.2
	ISO 38500—Cooperate Governance of Information Technology, ISO/IEC, 2008	Conformance
What is the importance of IT outsourcing for your company?	Rush, H. Bessant, J. Hobday, M. Assessing the technological capabilities of firms: developing a policy tool, R&D Management, 2007, vol. 37, pp. 221–36	Technology acquisition
	ISO 17799, Information Security Management BS 7799.2:2002 -Audit Check List, Sans Institute, 2002	12.5 Security in development and support processes
	COBIT 4.1, IT governance Institute, 2007	Deliver and support 2
To what extent does IT investments take place in your long term plans?	“AIA0109 Technology Capability Survey 2009”
	COBIT 4.1, IT governance Institute, 2007	Plan and organize 5
	ISO 38500—Cooperate Governance of Information Technology, ISO/IEC, 2008	Acquisition
	ITIL, Office Of Government Commerce, 2007	Financial management
Acquisition
To what extent is IT used in project management?	COBIT 4.1, IT governance Institute, 2007	Plan and organize 10.2, 10.5
	CMMI, Software Engineering Institute, 2008	Project management
To what extent is IT used to determine risks and alternatives in investments?	ISO 38500—Cooperate Governance of Information Technology, ISO/IEC, 2008	Acquisition: “Does the organization have IT investment system to assess the risk, alternatives by documentation”
	COBIT 4.1, IT governance Institute, 2007	Plan and organize 10
Does your company use service level agreement for provided IT services? Degree	COBIT 4.1, IT governance Institute, 2007	Plan and organize 1.1, 10.1; deliver and support 2.2
	CMMI, Software Engineering Institute, 2008	Supplier agreement management
	ITIL, Office Of Government Commerce, 2007	Service design -service level management
Exploitation
To what extent does IT used to create new advantages in your future businesses?	Rush, H. Bessant, J. Hobday, M. Assessing the technological capabilities of firms: developing a policy tool, R&D Management, 2007, vol. 37, pp. 221–36	Building core competence
	COBIT 4.1, IT governance Institute, 2007	Plan and organize 3.3
Does the IT responsibilities allocated in the company which is resulted effectively? Degree.	ISO 38500—Cooperate Governance of Information Technology, ISO/IEC, 2008	Responsibility: “Does the IT responsibilities allocated in the company which is resulted effectively?”
	COBIT 4.1, IT governance Institute, 2007	Plan and organize 4
	ISO 38500—Cooperate Governance of Information Technology, ISO/IEC, 2008	Responsibility
To what extend does your company use IT capabilities to create strategic advantage in the market?	Rush, H. Bessant, J. Hobday, M. Assessing the technological capabilities of firms: developing a policy tool, R&D Management, 2007, vol. 37, pp. 221–36	Building core competence
	ITIL, Office Of Government Commerce, 2007	Continual service improvement
	ISO 38500—Cooperate Governance of Information Technology, ISO/IEC, 2008	Performance
Protection
To what extent IT security management and its concept are placed in your company’s corporate culture?	COBIT 4.1, IT governance Institute, 2007	Deliver and support 5
	ISO 17799, Information Security Management BS 7799.2:2002 -Audit Check List, Sans Institute, 2002	5.1 Information security policy
	ITIL, Office Of Government Commerce, 2007	Service design -security management
	ISO 38500—Cooperate Governance of Information Technology, ISO/IEC, 2008	Conformance
Does your company maintain copyright protection policies and plans for intellectual properties? Degree the importance.	Rush, H. Bessant, J. Hobday, M. Assessing the technological capabilities of firms: developing a policy tool, R&D Management, 2007, vol. 37, pp. 221–36	Building external linkages
	ISO 17799, Information Security Management BS 7799.2:2002 -Audit Check List, Sans Institute, 2002	Compliance with legal requirements
To what extent does your company use IT-based monitoring in production?	ISO 38500—Cooperate Governance of Information Technology, ISO/IEC, 2008	Performance
	COBIT 4.1, IT governance Institute, 2007	Deliver and support 3.1
	ITIL, Office Of Government Commerce, 2007	Capacity management
	ISO 17799, Information Security Management BS 7799.2:2002 -Audit Check List, Sans Institute, 2002	8.2.1 Capacity planning