Contents - Connect-World
Contents - Connect-World
Contents - Connect-World
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Business Development<br />
Smaller enterprises have one powerful<br />
advantage over large organisations—<br />
their size enables much greater business<br />
agility. This unique advantage<br />
can enable them to adapt and execute<br />
new strategies quickly to become more<br />
competitive.<br />
Secondly, enterprise class software<br />
packages are now available for smaller<br />
businesses. The barriers have come<br />
down significantly for total cost of<br />
ownership (TCO), including the price<br />
of the software, implementation,<br />
hardware and ongoing support.<br />
Best practices and lessons learned<br />
have significantly matured these products<br />
and services ensuring greater<br />
project success and return on investment<br />
(ROI) to the traditionally risk<br />
adverse small enterprise.<br />
Typically, smaller companies do not<br />
have large in-house IT teams or budgets.<br />
In the past, this meant that they<br />
could not afford to buy, implement or<br />
manage the latest e-business systemsputting<br />
all of the associated<br />
benefits of these systems out of their<br />
reach.<br />
The combination of mature software<br />
solutions, solution packages priced for<br />
smaller businesses and the global best<br />
practices incorporated into todays<br />
solutions, now make it possible for<br />
smaller businesses to invest strategically<br />
in IT.<br />
As small businesses have many of the<br />
same requirements as larger companies,<br />
they need similar e-business<br />
information architecture and software<br />
capabilities as those enjoyed by large<br />
enterprises. They do not need downsized,<br />
non-scalable versions, which do<br />
not accommodate growth or offer key<br />
functionalities.<br />
To match their agility, smaller companies<br />
need an e-business system that<br />
can be put in place fast, in a matter of<br />
weeks, not months.<br />
Today, there are entire pre-packaged<br />
applications and best practice business<br />
flows available that can be quickly<br />
deployed to improve business efficiencies<br />
and reduce time-to-market<br />
significantly.<br />
In addition, smaller companies are<br />
making open standards an essential<br />
criterion of their IT system selection<br />
process. This ensures that their business<br />
does not become tied into a single technology<br />
platform, but can integrate seamlessly<br />
with various types of technology.<br />
For example, many Asian companies<br />
“Pressure has never<br />
been greater on companies<br />
to lower operating<br />
costs, whilst improving<br />
governance and productivity<br />
to reduce time to<br />
market.”<br />
have complex supply chains that may<br />
involve partnering and trading with<br />
other businesses; be it purchasing<br />
parts from Taiwan and Hong Kong for<br />
local assembly before being marketed<br />
to Eastern Bloc countries.<br />
Having a single open technology<br />
architecture means it is easy to do ebusiness<br />
with different technology<br />
infrastructures.<br />
This is especially important if a company<br />
is looking to merge or expand in<br />
the longer term. Bear in mind, successful<br />
smaller companies do not stay<br />
small, they aspire to grow.<br />
Another consideration is the use of<br />
products based upon the Linux operating<br />
system. Linux can dramatically<br />
reduce computing costs—both capital<br />
and maintenance cost—for smaller<br />
companies, whilst ensuring the highest<br />
levels of performance, reliability<br />
and security.<br />
A complete and integrated<br />
information architecture—<br />
simplifying the complex<br />
Large and small organisations alike<br />
have tended to build IT systems in<br />
reaction to specific demands for business<br />
functionality.<br />
The result is that these organisations<br />
are left to manage fragmented data<br />
and systems that are complex, poorly<br />
integrated and costly to maintain.<br />
In contrast, companies benefit from<br />
having a roadmap to strategically<br />
build company-wide information<br />
architecture.<br />
This will eliminate complexity and<br />
enhance connectivity by consolidating<br />
“Having a single open<br />
technology architecture<br />
means it is easy to do<br />
‘e-business’ with different<br />
technology<br />
infrastructures.”<br />
the infrastructure across three layers:<br />
applications, data and technology.<br />
Briefly, the three layers or sub-architectures<br />
are:<br />
1. Application Architecture—a consolidated<br />
core business and commodity<br />
applications footprint that share integrated<br />
processes, components and resources;<br />
2. Data Architecture—a unified data<br />
model that underpins an enterprises<br />
business processes and application;<br />
3. Technology Architecture—a consolidated,<br />
secure, accessible, scalable,<br />
reliable and secure technology infrastructure<br />
that supports the consolidated<br />
data and applications architectures<br />
of the enterprise.<br />
This strategic approach is particularly<br />
important for smaller businesses as<br />
they need to eliminate the cost and<br />
risk of traditional managed integration,<br />
improve data timeliness and<br />
quality and enable the deployment of<br />
global standard processes.<br />
In turn, they will benefit from more<br />
accurate and timely access to enterprise<br />
data, as well as achieve faster<br />
return on investment and improved<br />
governance as a result of an integrated<br />
architecture and solutions that are<br />
quick to implement, easy to use and<br />
inexpensive to maintain.<br />
Embarking on the<br />
transformation today<br />
The first wave of e-business is well<br />
established amongst the larger enterprise<br />
market. Now is the time for<br />
smaller enterprises to embark on<br />
transforming their businesses.<br />
Many companies in Asia Pacific<br />
already realise that affordable, reliable,<br />
secure and scalable e-business<br />
software can improve processes,<br />
reduce costs, boost overall profitability<br />
and provide a competitive edge.<br />
With the right approach and architecture<br />
in place, smaller companies<br />
across the region can be in the forefront<br />
of the second wave of e-business<br />
and profit from that leadership.<br />
Challenging economics and competitive<br />
forces favour companies that<br />
invest for the future.<br />
Companies choosing to hold back on<br />
IT investments will face stronger competitors<br />
that are investing now to create<br />
a competitive advantage and<br />
implement best practices for growth.<br />
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