SMEs advised to invest in IT

According to HP, Malaysian companies, especially small to medium-size enterprises (SMEs), should change their mindset and invest more in IT to enhance and expand their operations, reports Borneopost.

“Some companies in Malaysia use systems that are backward by some 20 years, especially SMEs,” says HP Malaysia's GM for enterprise servers, storage and networking, Anita Lim.

Lim says one out of two companies worldwide suffered from innovation gridlock, a situation where IT was blocked from driving new business innovation because the majority of funding was consumed in operating in the current environment.

Researchers from Irish companies and higher education institutions have so far won funding totalling 213 million euros for research projects in areas like ICT, health, nanotechnology and energy from the largest European funding programme ever, says Business Report.

The 50 billion-euro Seventh EU Framework Programme is seen as a major asset in the EU's fight against the current economic crisis, with its budget growing every year by 13% until 2013.

The programme runs from 2007 to 2013.

Now is the time for collaboration between industry stalwarts for augmenting the growth of SMEs, writes the Economic Times.

Responding to the need, the Internet and mobile industry fraternity came together to provide much-needed impetus to SMEs at a recently organised conference, 'Free for SMEs'.

Jointly organised by IndiaMart.com and the Internet and Mobile Association of India, the conference brought together competitors from different verticals on a common platform to voice their opinions, share expertise and add value on how SMEs can leverage ICT tools, services and applications for their business growth.