IT Challenges For Small to Medium Enterprises Can Be Readily Resolved
From our experience of working with Small and Medium sized Enterprises (SME's), Peritia identified a number of common IT related issues and challenges.
In response we have developed innovative and affordable IT Consultancy Services that are targeted toward Boards, Executives and Owners of Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (but equally applicable to larger organisations).
Multiple Vendors, Multiple Systems and Poor Integration
A simple IT operation run by a Small to Medium Sized Enterprise often requires someone in the organisation to choose and co-ordinate the products and services of multiple IT Vendors and Service Providers. This can become time consuming and confusing and the result for the enterprise can be frustrating and overly costly. Over time the number of systems and solutions grows, inefficiencies develop and complexity increase. The IT systems become more time consuming and as result IT becomes more expensive to run and delivers less return on the investment.
Peritia resolves this challenge by firstly providing affordable access to experienced IT consultants on an as required basis (see "Limited access to strategic level IT skills and resources" below) to help the organisation to understand current issues and opportunities and make good IT decisions. Secondly as independent consultants we can work with existing product and service providers to reduce complexity and unnecessary redundancy, improve integration and where appropriate identify and recommend new affordable solutions.
Limited access to strategic level IT skills and resources
Strategic and business focused IT advice and guidance is not generally accessible by Small to Medium Sized Enterprises: they cannot afford a full time IT strategist and their current IT Service Providers tend to be focused on technology solutions rather than strategic business direction.
Peritia fills this skills gap by providing affordable access to experienced Strategic IT Consultants and by delivering targeted and practical information to support decision making. In this way we are able to empower Boards, Executives and Owners to make more confident and more strategic IT decisions.
Limited focus on Strategic Goals when making IT investments
Research indicates that when small to medium sized organisations invest in IT there is an over emphasis on Finance and Operational Support applications and the operational aspects of IT (i.e. backroom applications and basic infrastructure). In consequence, IT is viewed as an overhead and not as an asset that can be used to “drive” the business and support innovation.
Peritia works with Boards, Executives and Business Owners to create practical business and technology plans that focus IT investment on visible outcomes and measurable benefit to the end customer, while maintaining and improving operational and IT efficiencies.
IT Governance and Risk Management processes are limited, or at worst informal or absent
There is a growing awareness of the lack of IT Governance and IT risk management at the Board, Executive and Leadership level of all organisations, with small to medium sized enterprises most likely to have informal or non-existent IT Governance structures and processes. The New Zealand Institute of Directors has recently flagged this as an area of concern and focus.
Peritia has a practical approach to implementing appropriately scaled IT Governance and Risk Management structures and processes and can help business leaders to identify and tackle these issues and focus investment on ensuring that IT adds measurable value to the customer.