COMEX conference 2013 to empower SMEs through ICT

ICT can be used by SMEs to enhance the quality of their products and services, develop their personnel through training and skills development and facilitate increased flexibility to respond to challenges within their internal and external environment which will lead to decreased costs and time saving strategies.

Supporting the growth and empowerment of SMEs in Oman, the COMEX Conference 2013 will take place on 24th March 2013 at the Grand Hyatt Muscat and will focus on ICT strategies that may be taken to make SMEs super-efficient. The event is held under the patronage of e.oman and organised by OITE Conferences.

In developing countries like Oman, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) play an important role by spearheading entrepreneurial pursuits, acting as suppliers to large companies, creating job opportunities and providing scope for innovation.

However poor access to ICT hinders these enterprises from realising their full potential. Keeping this in mind the COMEX Conference 2013 will take place under the theme Empowering SMEs through ICT and will see eminent speakers share their opinions, views and experience in regard of this issue under separate sessions.

Large scale enterprises have rapidly benefited from the adoption of new age technologies but the same cannot be said of SMEs. The adoption of ICT by SME's continues to lag behind, with some citing the reason behind this to be the lack of finance while others attribute it to technological lack of awareness and fear of technology complexity.

There are many ICT solutions applicable to large enterprises since they are in high demand from the same, which is why attention has to be given to provide ICT solutions to SMEs that are tailor-made to meet their requirements.

Governments around the world need to encourage the use of ICT among SMEs as this move can have favourable impacts on both the production process as well as the management system within the enterprise.

At the same time the senior management within SMEs must support a continuous ICT training aproach within the work culture to increase the confidence and awareness levels of their employees and managers. The adoption of ICT must be a gradual one since a sudden transformation may do more harm than good.