E. business knowledge transfer for SMEs – experience from Lithuania Prof. Rimantas Gatautis, KTU

E. business development: Infrastructure (State statistics department, 2010)

Internet use in enterprises (2010) 92,9% financial services (e. banking); 45,7 % staff training; 95 % communication with governmental institutions;. 87 % governmental information search; 89,7 % download of various forms; 84,8 % return of various forms; 78,1 % administration procedures in electronic way;

E. Commerce tendencies (2010) 24,4 % enterprises bought (order) goods through Internet, 20 % – receives orders through Internet; Online trade – procurement 13 % of all orders, sales – 9,3 % all sales.

ICT adaptation

Problems? Web site E-commerce E-business Networked organizations Digital ecosystems E. maturity Time

Barriers for e. business support (EIIR, 2009) Competition among companies in the target sectoral group. Lack of awareness, often combined with mistrust regarding ICT and ICT service providers (and their potential for improving SMEs' performance) Cost Internal ICT and management knowledge Network infrastructure issues: access and interoperability Legal uncertainties

E. Business support (EIIR, 2009) Business environment Skills upgrading Network infrastructure Trust infrastructure Digital products and information services Intangible investments and assets Information Government online

ICT based knowledge needs Outsourcing New business decisions ICT maintenance Security ICT architecture ICT strategy and management

Knowledge needs in functional areas Customer services Logistic Marketing Production Research Administration, accounting Management, control

Skills upgrading means E. Business support program Specific training programs E. Business guide “Good practice” portal Training courses

Earlier support initiatives(EIIR, 2009) Support through Phare, Leonardo da Vinci, local support measures Oriented towards awareness rising Support through SF E.business LT measure Oriented towards certain enterprises From awareness to implementation

General objectives of IT training in Lithuania To increase SMEs awareness about IT and e. business; To increase specific IT and e, business knowledge between SMEs ; To promote local good practice in e. business between SMEs;

Need for IT and e. business knowledge Knowledge in different markets - B2B and B2C. ICT and e. business in different activities across value chain/value networks (SCM, CRM, marketing, etc.). Sector specific knowledge.

Raising ICT and e. business awareness Objective – promote ICT and e. business adoption between SMEs. Information provision through different channels; Portal / web sites / brochures, guides; Seminars/workshops; Collaboration with consulting companies; Funding opportunities events;

SMEs self training Objective - – to encourage personal incentive to learn to use IT and optimize the use of IT. Online courses, various tutorials, e-learning, e-library of guidelines and practical advices.

High quality training courses/seminars/workshops Objective – to guarantee the best quality of training courses/seminars/workshops. qualification and accreditation of trainers and experts, professional advices and consultancy; quality requirements and foreseen possible tolerance bounds for trainers competence; monitoring of seminars/training courses/workshops; consider clients opinion and suggestions how to improve quality; consulting after seminars/training courses/workshops.

Collaborative learning Objective - to encourage IT innovations and management change in SMEs. Method: to bring together Business, Research and Education actors via a Web2.0 platform based on content created by the users, sharing examples of good practice.

Interactive assessment tools Objective - to fit the IT needs of each enterprise and/or user Method: To set up well structured training system which would be adopted according to SMEs activity scope and development plan.

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