Canadian small- and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) identified education and information dissemination; lack of strategic business resources; costs; and security as the four key challenges they face in accelerating the use of e-business in Canada.
These findings are part of a white paper released by the Canadian e-Business Opportunities Roundtable’s e-Business Acceleration team.
The paper is based on findings from regional meetings of SMEs held this year in Halifax, Montreal, Toronto, Winnipeg and Edmonton. The report was prepared by the Canadian Chamber of Commerce.
According to the white paper, Canadian small and medium-sized enterprises are wired, yet they are not effectively leveraging new technology to stay competitive.
A clear majority of Canadian business has Internet access. However, few are investing resources to explore more sophisticated e-business applications.
“Being an e-business involves more than developing a Web site. The real gold to be mined in e-business requires companies to integrate Internet-based technology to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of their core business processes,” said John Wetmore, chair, e-Business Acceleration Team and president and CEO, IBM Canada.
“We are making progress. However, there remains a lot more to be done.”
