The Role of ICT within Small and Medium Enterprises in Gauteng.

Abstract

This article discusses the role of information and communication technology (ICT) within the small and medium enterprise (SME) sector in Gauteng, a province in South Africa. ICT plays a very important role in the current knowledge economy. It is vital for SMEs to participate in this economy in order to compete and thrive in the future. The problem is that SMEs are mainly using traditional tools to stay competitive. They need to take advantage of the power of ICT in order to take on the competition, whether small, big or global. Both the traditional and the ICT tools are very important for the competitiveness of the business. The article follows a qualitative research approach and uses semi-structured questionnaires with open-ended questions as data gathering method. There are a number of reasons why an SME might not implement ICT tools, such as limited funds, lack of knowledge, lack of skilled staff and lack of tools. The article highlights the limitation that SMEs have in using ICT and make recommendations on how to overcome them.