Have alook at the ttachments Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Have alook at the ttachments - Essay Example Nonetheless, SMEs are defined differently from one country to another. However, most of the time, these are defined in accordance with the number of employees a business has, the turnover, and the economic scale of the business. Furthermore, electronic business (e-business or e-commerce) is defined as any type of businesses that serve or sell using the digital medium or with Information and Communication Technology (ICT). Moreover, an e-business can have three main classifications, and these are the consumer-to-consumer (C2C), the business-to-business (B2B), and the business-to-consumer (B2C) (MacGregor & Vrazalic, 2007; Khosrow-pour, 2006). In line with the globalisation, many governments suggest that SMEs incorporate e-business in order to promote advantageous economic activities (Taylor & Murphy, 2004). On the other hand, prior to integrating a business or a company with ICT, it is necessary to look over the e-economy of a country or a market. E-economy is defined by Booz, Allen, and Hamilton (2002 cited in Oliver & Sanders, 2004, p. 120) as â€Å"the dynamic system of interactions between a nation’s citizens, business, and government that capitalize upon online technology to achieve a social or economic good.† In order to guarantee readiness in the e-economy, e-readiness is being created with the following indicators: network access, network society, network economy, and network policy (Nejadirani, Behravesh, & Rasouli, 2011). Access and Usage of the ICT or Network In assessing the network, questions, such as the accessibility, the cost, and the quality of the ICT must be answered. Also, the equipment, network, and services within a given economy or market must also be determined (Nejadirani, Behravesh, & Rasouli, 2011). Furthermore, SMEs are considered as a vital part for the UK economy because almost 99% of the business enterprises in UK are SMEs with almost 60% are employed in this economy. In relation to access and usage of the network, th e most commonly used technology is the website of the company, electronic mail, and the Internet. Most of the SMEs, which had employed 10 or more staffs, had already set-up their own intranet. Also, most of these businesses had used wireless technology and electronic data interchange, which depend on the capacity and size of the SME. Furthermore, in the process of automated record-keeping of sales and orders, most of the SMEs use ICT accounting and finance activities. Moreover, the automation of business designs, enterprise resources planning, human resource management tasks, and the production control was also used by SMEs. The shift to the usage of ICT of SMEs has been due to the efficiency that the automation results to, the highly technologised competition in the market, and in order to enhance customer service and employee satisfaction (Dyerson, Harindranath, & Barnes, 2008a). Furthermore, in relation to skills needed in the usage or integration of ICT to SMEs, technical skills are not enough. The ICT department or staff must also have excellent communication skills and customer service skills. Also, the ICT staff must be capable of transferring theories into knowledge that can be sued in practice (Lowry & Turner, 2007). Network in the Society In this aspect, a