The adoption of the latest information technologies (IT) among small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) would enable them to outperform their peers in the marketplace, the latest Boston Consulting Group (BCG) survey reveals.
The Microsoft commissioned report revealed that IT-enabled SMEs will be capable of boosting revenues and generate jobs more rapidly than their peers.
The latest report titled ‘Ahead of the Curve: Lessons on Technology and Growth From Small Business Leaders’, revealed that there is potential for SME revenue to grow by a combined $770bn in the five primary countries if additional SMEs would attain the growth rates same as of those using latest IT.
Same SMEs would also be capable of adding about 6.2 million new jobs in those countries alone.
Microsoft corporate vice president and Emerging Markets chairman Orlando Ayala said that SMEs are a critical growth engine for jobs and economies today, and the survey was carried out to better understand the impact of technology on such small businesses.
"Since the economic crisis, many economies have struggled to return to strong economic growth and to create new jobs, and this research suggests strongly that greater use of advanced IT by SMEs can potentially boost both growth and employment," Ayala said.
The research also found that over the past three years, IT-enabled SMEs, raised revenues 15 percentage points rapidly and generated twice as many jobs as SMEs that using less technology.
Across all product categories, fast-growing SMEs deploy more Microsoft solutions compared to other products.
The report also argued that the modern technological advancement, including cloud services, offers potential for the most broad innovation and business growth, while enabling more SMEs to attain the growth rates of technology leaders by leveraging technology to drive productivity and growth.
However, research revealed that high-performing SMEs stood ahead of mainstream IT adoption, while also deployed full range of available tools ranging from productivity software to Internet connectivity and cloud-based services.
The research also warned of SMEs’ adoption of IT, which is definitely uneven, as several SMEs, and their consumers will not be able to access modern broadband networks, and several of them are deficient of the skills to exploit IT.
