The IT department at The Bean Shop, a specialist coffee importer based in Scotland, essentially consists of the firm’s managing director and two full-time IT support staff. It is definitely not the kind of environment where you can afford to spend months rolling out complex new IT systems.
‘When we invest in technology, we need something that is quick to implement so it won’t stop the business running,’ says managing director John Bruce. ‘Also, we’re not IT experts, so we want technology that we can keep running without requiring too much expensive support.’
So when The Bean Shop decided to open an online store, it opted for a fully hosted service from telecoms giant BT. In return for a fixed monthly fee, Bruce gets BT internet access, online trading software, security systems and a customer database.
‘We needed something with fixed costs, and it is great to be able to say: well for £30 per month, you’ll offer us secure email,’ he says.
The Bean Shop is typical of many SMEs in that it wants to invest in new technology, but lacks the skills and resources to implement or maintain those systems effectively, says John Eary, a senior consultant with NCC Group.
‘SMEs cannot afford to hire a network guy, a security guy, a web guy,’ says Eary. ‘They might have a couple of IT guys, who need to be able to turn their hands to just about anything.’
A second challenge for smaller companies is that they often struggle to attract skilled IT professionals – the best candidates are also being wooed by bigger companies with deeper pockets and potentially more exciting career opportunities.
Richard Chorley, associate director of IT recruitment specialist Computer People, says that as demand grows for particular skills, SMEs are effectively being priced out of the market.
‘You might want to hire someone with great expertise in service oriented architecture, but he might cost £60,000 a year, and that is probably beyond your budget,’ he says.
Ambitious new recruits might also be unimpressed by the career paths available at an SME, says Eary.
‘There are not too many career paths in a smaller company, and generally smaller firms lag behind in deploying the new, cutting-edge technologies,’ he says.
At the moment, recruitment experts say that there is a strong demand for programmers and web experts, particularly with C#, Java and Microsoft .Net skills. More generally, employers are looking for people with good business analysis and project management skills, says Chorley.
If you need these skills within your organisation, Chorley says it is still possible to find good candidates – for a price.
‘The key thing is to balance the cost of hiring someone with those skills versus the opportunity cost of not having the skill,’ he says.
‘If you are going to make £200,000 by having a transactional web site, then it is probably worth paying £100,000 to get two people in to build the site.’
Another option is to make use of more external resources.
For example, demand for contractors is beginning to slow, which could present SMEs with the opportunity to find short-term staff for less cash than you might expect.
Increasingly, says Eary, SMEs are also turning to managed service providers to run applications externally to overcome such a problem.
‘For an SME, this gives you access to expertise in return for a fixed fee, which is ideal because cash flow is often a problem in smaller companies,’ he says. ‘Why go to the hassle of buying a CRM system when someone can just provide you with it over the internet?’
A second possible solution is to train your existing workforce in the skills that are required – and hope that they don’t leave five minutes after the ink on their MCSE certificate is dried.
‘You might train people and they leave – but what happens if you don’t train them and they stay?’ asks Peter Klaasen, a human resources adviser with Business Link for London.
Working in a smaller company can also have certain advantages for IT professionals, says Andy Griffin, chief executive of recruitment firm C&D Group.
‘What you have to do is focus on what is unique about your business, and the opportunity that you – as a growing business – can offer to the candidate.’
As a smaller employer, you might be able to offer candidates the opportunity to take on more responsibility, and to have a close working relationship with other business departments.
‘You tend also to find less bureaucracy and politics in smaller firms,’ says Griffin.
Computing’s SME special report
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