Common Issues of Informatization of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises and Rethinking of Informatization Strategy of Enterprises

For a long time, many issues such as management, technology, marketing and funding have restricted the development and growth of small and medium-sized enterprises. Informatization construction is crucial to the growth and efficiency of small and medium-sized enterprises, and the correct implementation of informatization can indeed help small and medium-sized enterprises to play a “four-two-for-all” effect. However, my country’s small and medium-sized enterprises have the following common problems in the construction of informatization:

The understanding of enterprise informatization is not in place. Many managers of small and medium-sized enterprises have very superficial understanding of information technology, methods of information implementation, and the value that information technology can bring to enterprises. It is undeniable that managers of small and medium-sized enterprises are often unable to grasp the ever-changing information technology, and they are afraid and repulsive.

It is difficult to transform the management model. During the growth process of small and medium-sized enterprises, they have accumulated too many “rule of man” colors. Most of the bosses have the final say on the management system, assessment system, and business process, and it is difficult to form a scientific system at once. The basis of informatization is the standardization of management. It is difficult for small and medium-sized enterprises to realize the transition from “rule by man” to “rule of law” in the process of informatization.
The foundation of informatization is very weak. Many small and medium-sized enterprises lack awareness of informatization, and there is no specialized IT department or even specialized personnel responsible for it. Even if there are informatization applications, the departments still operate on different platforms and cannot integrate well, causing problems such as duplication of entry, data out of synchronization, and data inability to share.

Informatization construction lacks planning. Many small and medium-sized enterprises are not very clear about their informatization needs, and often do not know when they should engage in informatization, how to implement it, how to implement it, etc. Even if some companies have planned, they are just a list of some IT technologies, and it is difficult to truly integrate the actual situation of the company. .

The capital investment is seriously insufficient. Most small and medium-sized enterprises are still in the stage of solving the survival problem, so they have insufficient investment in informatization construction, and at the same time, it is difficult to make continuous investment in informatization.

Lack of information professionals. The informatization staff of small and medium-sized enterprises are mostly pure computer technicians, often staying at the initial stage of repairing computers and checking networks. They have little understanding of management knowledge and business processes of enterprises, and they are difficult to perform the important tasks of informatization planning and implementation. Although the number of small and medium-sized enterprises is large and wide-ranging, as far as informatization manufacturers are concerned, the informatization investment of small and medium-sized enterprises is “broken silver.” Therefore, informatization suppliers do not really pay attention to the informatization of small and medium-sized enterprises, and often just hope to sell some standardized software products to enterprises. At the same time, there are not many professional institutions that provide information services for SMEs.

Therefore, the difficulty of SME informatization lies in the fact that SMEs do not pay enough attention to informatization and investment, which makes it difficult for informatization manufacturers and service organizations to serve SMEs to make profits, and therefore does not pay enough attention to it; this in turn leads to a lack of professionalism. The informatization application of talented SMEs is difficult to achieve practical results. In this way, a vicious circle of vicious circle is formed. Therefore, in order to break the vicious circle of the informatization construction of small and medium-sized enterprises, it is necessary to introduce innovative ideas. In the past, informatization research often focused only on the lack of funds and talents for small and medium-sized enterprises. Therefore, various cheap solutions have been proposed, such as the ASP platform. However, practice shows that it is not feasible to ignore the individuality of small and medium-sized enterprises and try to use a common service to meet the information management needs of small and medium-sized enterprises in different industries, different product types, and different production modes. Research institutions and informatization engaged in enterprise informatization

Manufacturers, it is necessary to rethink the informatization strategy of SMEs. The core of the SME informatization strategy includes seven principles:

The informatization of small and medium-sized enterprises must aim at increasing efficiency. In the process of informatization construction of small and medium-sized enterprises, it should be considered based on business process optimization and management reform, through the close integration of information technology and business processes, to achieve lean management, increased benefits and capacity enhancement of enterprises.

Enterprise informatization is a systematic project, and small and medium-sized enterprises should continue to promote informatization construction. Informatization is not a panacea, and management problems cannot be solved by informatization. SMEs engaged in informatization construction can neither go far ahead nor stand still.

The informatization of small and medium-sized enterprises should follow the principle of “overall planning, acting within the limits of one’s ability, and paying attention to actual results”. First of all, according to the company’s own industry and production characteristics, it is necessary to make a scientific plan and rationally arrange the process as much as possible. Second, we must not prioritize hard and soft, and allocate funds reasonably. Third, to make informatization a gradual process of increasing efficiency, the so-called “overall planning, step-by-step implementation”, to achieve “rolling investment.” Fourth, the informatization of small and medium-sized enterprises should go from low to high, from shallow to deep, and to deepen layer by layer.

The informatization of SMEs should focus on solving the shortcomings of enterprises. Different industries and different types of small and medium-sized enterprises have different shortcomings, and their informatization efforts are different. In the initial stage, small and medium-sized enterprises must first solve the problem of survival. Therefore, for small and medium-sized manufacturing enterprises, marketing is the leader, and marketing must be used to drive R&D and R&D to drive production.

Informatization construction is closely integrated with the individual needs of enterprise development. Informatization vendors should fully respect the individuality of small and medium-sized enterprises. We cannot one-sidedly emphasize the use of common products, and we cannot expect to solve the problem of informatization of small and medium-sized enterprises as a whole through the ASP platform. When choosing an information system, small and medium-sized enterprises should pay special attention to the advancement, openness and scalability of the information system platform, and try to avoid duplication of investment.

Small and medium-sized enterprises are often the upstream link of a certain industrial chain. Therefore, small and medium-sized enterprises should actively promote e-commerce and strive to enter the supply chain of leading enterprises. Therefore, small and medium-sized enterprises can use the logistics supply chain platform operated by third-party service agencies or leading enterprises in the supply chain, which can solve the problems of information interaction between SMEs and leading enterprises such as logistics and capital flow.

Promoting the informatization of small and medium-sized enterprises requires not only the efforts of the enterprise itself, but also the joint support of the government, informatization product providers and third-party informatization consulting service agencies. As far as the government is concerned, it should provide guidance and support to SMEs, especially those at the start-up stage, for informatization construction; for informatization vendors, developing software for SMEs should be able to flexibly meet individual needs, and interface operations should be user-friendly , The system must have high stability, have a good interface to integrate the existing system, technical support and service response speed must be fast, and can meet the needs of rapid development and change of the enterprise on demand. The success of the informatization construction of small and medium-sized enterprises especially requires the introduction of third-party informatization consulting services as long-term informatization strategic consultants for enterprises. At the same time, it is necessary to seek an information integration service provider to help enterprises establish an information integration platform