A little help please

[Muzzy]

Hello All,

I work for a management training institution and would really appreciate a bit of help. I work in the research department and we do a lot of work with SMEs (Small / Medium Enterprises). We are currently putting together a proposal for a grant from the EC to carry out a project investigating digital literacy in SMEs. This would be Europe wide so takes into consideration countries that are behind us in terms of their level of digital lietarcy.

Can you help by describing what types of technology everyone uses that helps in the running of their businesses e.g. their marketing techniques, supply chain management, staff, accounts, networking, etc.

Even simple things such as Excel, Outlook and the internet for example will be useful.

All ideas, no matter how simple or complicated would be very welcome.

Many thanks

James

 

[Ozzy]

Hi James,
I would expect a survey would get a better response.

 

[Fab1]

Hi James

I don't know if this is helpful but there is my contribution.

I am a consultant working in the hospitality industry.
I have worked with all kinds of businesses from hospitals to hotels, restaurant and pubs. Dealing with chains such as De Vere, Holiday Inn etc. More recently I set up my own company and currently am working with smaller clients (have to start somewhere!)

I was surprised at first that very few of the major hotel chain are using systems beyond the basic excel or access spread sheets.
I quickly found out that the reason is that the vast majority of their middle management is incapable of coping with more advance systems, already struggling to understand the most basic excel set up.

Most of my clients use outlook as means of communication and excel as a monitoring tool to control stocks etc...

As a company we are conscious that this has limitations and were looking for a system that would offer a lot more without someone having to spend hours working out formulas. The system also had to be simple to use.

We now have such a system and are about to implement it in our first client. I can't tell you more about it other than it is web based and offers online procurement, stock management, accounting process in one.
Training and set up will take a couple of days and it is simple enough to use for anyone to understand it.

Regards

 

[Cornish Steve]

Hi James,

I should explain the context of my answer so you can determine its relevance to your current study. My company is based in the US; however, our interactive online courses are available to professionals worldwide. For example, two managers from England recently participated in our beta trial.

Interaction is an essential part of our approach to online training. The real value of our courses comes from the contributions made by every member of the class. We strive to maintain an ego-less environment and encourage everyone to ask questions, offer advice, challenge answers, perform research, and so on. In a sense, everyone in the class is both a student and a teacher. We use discussion forums as the principal mode of communication since the technology is convenient and can accommodate participants from different time zones.

Our courses are designed in such a way that participants must complete an individual assignment and a small team project each week. Some team activities require significant interaction, so we encourage teammates to make good use of various methods of communication. We use AIM for instant messaging and Skype for free VoIP calls, for example. Some people prefer to send email, while others take advantage of cheap calling plans to call teammates using a mobile phone.

For teams to work together well, everyone participating in our courses should use the same software applications. We prefer that everyone uses the Microsoft Office suite; however, we have found that Open Office software (available at www.openoffice.org ) is a good alternative. I find that most people are comfortable with Word, a majority are familiar with PowerPoint, but few people are familiar with the features of Excel. (I am surprised by the lack of expertise with Excel, but maybe my view is colored by my frequent use of all MS Office tools.)

Most people appear to use Outlook for email; however, few people make good use of its features (such as color coding messages based on relative importance).

One interesting point is that some technologies are viewed as appropriate for personal communication but not for business communication. For example, I use AIM extensively to communicate with my work colleagues; however, several companies in the US ban the use of instant messaging at work. I've heard that it's the same in Europe. This is unfortunate because the presence information provided by AIM is helpful.

I hope this information helps.

Steve
www.goldctr.com