Information Technology Problems And Solutions For Small Businesses

Introduction: Background of the study

Discuss about the Information Technology Problems and Solutions for Small Businesses.

Information technology has been an emerging technology in the market. Small business enterprises have been using this technology for developing the business in the market. Due to various advantages of IT in the market, numerous number of SMEs are adopting the technology in the market. However, there are some different cases in the adoption of the information technology by the SMEs and by large companies in the market (Nguyen, Newby & Macaulay, 2015). The use of the IT in the business is very dependent in the infrastructure and talent of the employees in the company. The use of the IT can be both positive and negative for the business. The use of different sources of applications on the company helps in maintaining different operations on the company (Harris & Patten, 2014). The IT applications have been refurnishing the growth of the company in the market. Various information technology including cloud computing and ERP implementation have been mostly used by the SMEs in the market (Abebe, 2014). These technologies have been helping in maintaining the development of the company in the market by multiplying the production and managing services provided by the company.

However, new technologies are carving the market by innovating new techniques of business in the market. The implementation of IT in the small business enterprises have led to increase in risks including cyber-attacks and other online threats (Schaper, 2016). Therefore, various solutions have been created by the IT for mitigating these problems in the small business enterprises. These solutions include use of hardware and software for internet security, updated antivirus and ERP systems for proper management of the operations in the company (Hashim, 2015). The use of these techniques have helped in initiating the growth of the company in the market. These technologies have been replacing traditional way of working into modern technological approach.

This research deals with the problems in using information technology in the small business enterprises. Various problems have been identified in the study due it the implementation if the information technology in the small business enterprises (Verbano, Crema & Venturini, 2015). However, IT solutions have been provided with respect to the problems in the business. The study has helped in accessing strategic management in the business organization. This research will help in attaining a proper customer satisfaction level in the market that might help in increasing the growth of SMEs in the market.

IT Applications and their Impact on Small Businesses

Information technology have helped in providing an opportunity to the businesses for improving their efficiency and effectiveness in the market. Information technology has embarked various opportunities in the market along with various risks for small business enterprises (Tarut? & Gatautis, 2014). The implementation of the IT in the business have led to several online threats and risks including cyber-attacks and phishing (Gray, 2017). Therefore, there are different cases evolved in the market that has been creating problems for the small business enterprises affecting the business.

In the current scenario, cyber-attack has been increasing in the market. According to a survey, there has been increase in the number of cyber-attacks by 7% all over the internet (Seethamraju, 2015). The use of the information technology has been creating massive amount if cyber threats in the market. The use of various technologies in the small business enterprise have been maintaining the management of business organization.

This research has put light in the benefits of implementation of information technology in the small business enterprises. This research has helped on identifying the threats and risks involved due to the implementation of information technology in the small business enterprises. The use of various IT solutions have been provided in the study that might help in maintaining the risks in the small, business organization.

Small business enterprises always look for various opportunities for developing in the market. Different technologies including information technology have been emerging in the market. Small business enterprises have been adopting information technology for developing their businesses in the market. The use of information technology have helped in maintaining the business and profit of the business. The IT applications have helped in providing extra features to the working force of the company (Yeboah-Boateng & Essandoh, 2014). However, there are some limitations and problems included in the adoption of the information technology. Information technology have given rise to the cyber-attacks in the company. The online threats and security issues have been a major problem in the context.

The aim of this study is to identify the problems and solutions to those problems in the small business companies due to implementation of information technology.

Risks and Solutions in IT Implementation

The objective of this research are as follows:

• To identify the IT structures and technologies in a small business
• To critically analyze IT problems and issues faced by small business
• To identify solutions to these challenges faced by small business

The research questions are as follows:

• What are the internal IT structures and technologies in a small business?
• What are the information technology problems and issues faced by small business?
• What are the solutions of technology issues in small business?

H0: Information technology have positively affected small business organization.

H1: Information technology have negatively affected small business organizations in the market.

Information technology has been regarded as the most primary tool for the development of any enterprises in the market. The emerging market of the information technology has helped in providing opportunity to various business organization in the market. Information technology has been maintaining and monitoring the business operations in the companies (Cassar, Ittner & Cavalluzzo, 2015). The set of the information technology has helped in providing an extra benefit to the workforce of the company. The use of the IT has been providing different expectations to the business (Agwu & Murray, 2018). Implementation of the technology in the business organization have been developed in order to enhance the business growth in the market. The increase in the business in the market has been due to the implementation of information technology in the market (Cao, Jones & Sheng, 2014). The information technology include various hardware and software that are helpful in providing business solutions to various problems in the business.

Small business organizations are looking for opportunities and innovative ideas for developing their small company into a big company. The use of several models and techniques have helped in providing a basic architecture to the company in the market. The contribution of IT in the development of the business has been increasing on a daily basis. Productivity has been focus of the information technology in any company (Kurnia et al., 2015).

Small and medium sized companies are creating a new innovative market in the world. Small businesses have been a growing sector in the market that includes a number of small companies and startups. The capital or the small business is not large so that they can avail advance technology from the market. The employee base of the company are nit good as there is very less growth in the companies (Dahnil et al., 2014). These small businesses help in maintaining the market of the big companies by taking projects from them. Many big companies have been providing their projects to the small companies that helps in completing their projects on time. The use of the technology in the small business have been minimum quality. Therefore, the use of the information technology in the companies might be a great relief for them. The use of the information technology in the small companies help in providing a conceptualization view to the employers of the company. Various department of the companies have been working together for the development of the company in the market (Awa, Ojiabo & Emecheta, 2015). Small companies are looking or the opportunities in order to develop their company in the market. The sales and marketing team of the company needs to be upgraded with proper training among employees. The flexibility in the organizational structure has been more than that of the big companies. The hierarchy in the organizational structure has been low. This help in fast completion of tasks by small companies (Johnson, 2015).

Benefits and Risks of Information Technology in Small Business Enterprises

The IT has been covering a wide range of business organization in the market. The adoption of IT in the market has been helped in maintaining the business of the company. The use of the IT in the small business organization has been maintaining the financial condition of the company in the market. There have been various perspective of the adoption of IT in the small business including proper infrastructural change and ERP (Carcary, Doherty & Conway, 2014). The use of these policies in the management might help in monitoring variety of decision-making terms and condition in the market. The use of the IT has been helping in providing a variety of decision-making factors. The organizational behavior might be changed in various manners by the adoption of the IT (Ainin et al., 2015). The adoption of the IT in the SME have helped in enhancing the development of the company in the market. The IT adoption in the small business have helped in maintaining the sales of the company in the market (Braojos-Gomez, Benitez-Amado & Llorens-Montes, 2015). Organizational behavior of the managers in the small business have been changing with the implementation of the IT in the companies (Ramayah, Ling Taghizadeh & Rahman, 2016). The IS/IT adoption in the companies have helped in maintaining the growth of the companies in the market. The customer satisfaction level of has been an important factor in the adoption of the IT in the small business. However, there are different factors that have been driving the adoption of the IT in the small business.

There are different factors that have been influencing the adoption of the IT in the small businesses. These factors can be differentiated in internal and external factors. Both factors have been categorized based on their perspective of their availability in the study.

Top Management

The small business organization has been adopting IT affected by the top management o the company. The decision-making skills of the managers in the small business have been enhanced by the adoption of the IT. The structure of the organizations have been affected by the involvement of the IT in the management (Palacios-Marqués, Soto-Acosta & Merigó, 2015). The adoption of the IT have been affecting then decision-making system of the top management in the small business. The role of the CEO of the companies have been changed and enhanced by the adoption of the IT in the company (Oliveira, Thomas & Espadanal, 2014). The study of the strategic activities by the CEO of the company have been helping in maintaining proper approach to the decision-making system (Zhou, 2016). As argued by Lin, (2014), the impact of the IT in the business goals and objectives might be harsh. The movement if the IT leaders in the company might affect the goals and objectives of the company. Applications used by the company might be accessed by the top management of the company that helped to data and information loss in the company. The privacy of data and information has been nit been maintained with the implementation of the IT in the company.

Problem Statement

Resources

Resources of the company have been accessible to various members in the company. Therefore, the adoption of the IT have helped in providing security of to the resources of the company. Financial resources are important resources for the small business organization as the requirements for the performance analysis are the critical success factors. However, most of the small business suffers from lack in financial resources in the market. Therefore, limited financial assets create problem in approaching towards a high budget project from big companies. As commented by Ismail & King (2014), a wrong decision might create a huge loss to the company in respect to financial condition. The price of the computer hardware and software have been considered in the market. The initial cost include the price of computer software and hardware along with IT implementation cost and cost of user training and development have been maintained in the different phases of the IT adoption (de Jong, Gillert & Stock, 2018). The implementation of the IS investment in the small business organization has been acting as a success factor for the adoption of the IT in the company. The higher level of the IT adoption in the company have been maintaining the decision-making system in the small business. As argued by Wamba & Carter (2016), small business organization has been suffering from lack of in-house IT expertise that negatively affect the future of the company and the implementation of IT systems. Therefore, small business needs ti hire some professional IT exerts that might help in maintaining the workforce of the company and taking high level projects from big companies. Development of IS/IT skills and knowledge are one of the important factor required for the development of the company in the market.

IT Solutions

The process of the IT adoption has been included in the small businesses that depends on the characteristics of IS/IT components including Process, popularity and compatibility. The implementation of the IT solutions in the small business have held in minimizing the complexity of the operations in the company (Kossaï & Piget, 2014). The use of different applications in the small business have helped in minimizing the labor power in the team. The technical characteristics of the IT products and services are available in the market that helps in providing in better approaches for the customers. The IT solutions available in the market that helps in maintaining the sales of products and services of the companies (Reascos & Carvalho, 2018). The performance of the small business have been enhanced in order to maintain the growth of the company in the market.

Research Aim, Objectives, and Questions

Government

The adoption of the IT in the small business has been affected by the involvement if the government in the context. The government have played an important role in the adoption of the IT systems in the small business (Marrone et al., 2014). Initiatives taken by government have supported the adoption of the IT in the small business. Governmental policies have helped in maintaining the ERP model of the business.

The author in this research paper talks about the speculations that can be turn out to be useful in accomplishing further study of the research topic. Suitable approach must be picked. The author additionally designs the confinements of research contemplate also. The researcher tries to apply everything about of the research approach.  

The author talks about that the research philosophy is useful in representing the supposition strategies attempted by a researcher while doing the research. The reasoning procedure can change while completing a specific research therefore it is outright need to receive a specific philosophy for the research (Lewis, 2015). The research philosophy must be powerful and must be in proper arrangement. Epistemology is a piece of theory and basic types of epistemology are positivism, authenticity and the interpretativism.

Positivism helps with evaluating the concealed realities and the information identified with the information technology and small businesses. The study idea of the association must be finished inside a time span that is the reason the interpretative or authenticity ponder has been rejected for the research think about (Flick et al., 2015). 

A suitable study approach is required to with the goal that the arrangement in the research can be done can be identified. A specific research can be embraced for the study in two ways-inductive or deductive. A researcher for the most part lean towards the inductive approach when there is not sufficient information for the picked investigate subject. The inductive approach’s underlying stage is the perception (Vaioleti, 2016).

In this paper, the research point will attempt to comprehend the ideas identified with information technology and small business. The research theme needs determination of an approach that can be useful in understanding the connection between information technology and small business.

Hypothesis

The author represents the research design and this research configuration helps with showing the system of the research theme. At the season of information accumulation, the researcher receives an unmistakable approach (Brinkmann, 2014). The research approach is useful in depicting the research plan.

Exploratory plan helps the researcher to accumulate considerations and thoughts that are expected to finish the research. The informative research configuration characterizes the event of the episodes related with the research (Gast & Ledford, 2014). Ultimately, the descriptive design’s goal is to assemble subtle elements with appropriate depiction of the research subject.

Informative application has been rejected for this study as the Descriptive design underpins the longitudinal research idea. The descriptive design is fit to characterize the connection between the information technology and small business.

The researchers consider the information as gathering of actualities and information and information accumulation leads the research in effective and moral way (Hernandez & Ona, 2018). The author specifies that the information accumulations help in inferring suitable outcomes to a research system. The information gathering empowers standard configuration of the research ponder.

The information sources are needful to break down the research subject well. Primary and the secondary information sources help in amassing an ever increasing number of insights about the research theme.

In the research paper, the primary sources includes interface between the information technology and small business. The researchers consider the writing wellsprings of the exposition as yield accomplished through optional sources. The devices of the secondary sources contain disconnected sources and additionally the online sources like the sites, sites, books and the diaries.

Qualitative information helps with taking record of the account type of the information. The qualitative information include better portrayal of the research theme. The author says that the qualitative information aids the including hypothetical ideas more in the functional field. Therefore, the qualitative information helps in better comprehension of the point which isn’t conceivable in the event of quantitative strategy (Dzwolak, 2018). Quantitative information utilizes the measurable information such that it can record information having huge example sizes. In the research contemplate, the clients will be thought about for the quantitative research study. The chiefs in this research study will be considered for the qualitative research.

Literature Review: Concept of Information Technology

Tests that are gathered to comprehend the connection between the information technology and small business are reasonable to meet the criteria of the research consider. The examples are gathered by basic irregular likelihood count and no criteria have been mulled over. The examples will be taken as online poll. The respondents are requested to partake in the study. The overview is performed based on Linkert’s scale. The scale ranges from 1 to 5.

The example estimate is separated into quantitative and qualitative methodology. To do the quantitative research 55 respondents’ view will be gathered for the inquire about research. The examples are gathered by basic irregular likelihood figuring and no criteria have been thought about. The examples will be taken as online survey. Google forms will be used for creating online questionnaires and uploaded online. The respondents are requested to take an interest in the overview. The overview is performed based on Linkert’s scale. The scale ranges from 1 to 5.

The example measure is isolated into quantitative and qualitative techniques. To complete the quantitative research 55 respondents’ view will be gathered for the research contemplate. Their input will be taken as the online survey shapes. Just the quantitative research will be led so the respondents will fill the quantitative structures.

At the season of directing the research, the researcher requires to take after the set of accepted rules. The set of principles helps in recognizing the wrong and the correct arrangement of practices. The researcher for understanding the connection between the information technology and small business needs to take after a few morals (Johnson et al., 2018). On the off chance that the researcher directs the research work morally then that can increase the value of the research point.

Association of the Respondents: The researcher will make an effort not to pressurize the respondents. Respondents who will take an interest will be empowered and their conclusions and criticism will be thought about.  

Timeline: The researcher has almost no time left because of the cross-sectional nature of the research. The researcher don’t ready to explore profoundly and thus the research work will be to some degree influenced or can get postponed because of absence of fitting research inside the timetable set.

Concept of Small Business Enterprises

Budget: The researcher can confront issues identified with the financial plan. Absence of financing for the research can turn out to be hazardous for the research. The information research quality will be extremely influenced. It might happen that the venture will fall flat. The monetary allowance is surely a restriction which the researcher needs to mull over truly.

The section characterizes different instruments and the strategies that can be useful in the research of the venture theme. The researcher will attempt to direct the research think about after a few research strategies. They will take after the most ideal research strategy following which they will keep dealing with the task. They will complete the information study part for the research in view of the research technique they have chosen to follow in this section. The research system instruments will help them in comprehension or breaking down the connection the between the information technology and small businesses.

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