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Small businesses urged to continuously upskill IT personnel

29th May 2020

By: Schalk Burger

Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor

     

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Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) must define the scope of information technology (IT) work and skills they require, and should continuously invest in the upskilling of these individuals through courses and exams, ensuring they have all necessary qualifications to support the SME environment, and partner with specialist service providers to help realise the business value of IT, says electronic supplier Rectron cloud and software solutions director Elaine Wang.

At a basic level, look in the market for someone who can manage the day-to-day break and fix scenarios, with the understanding that it is unlikely that SMEs find an individual that can do everything from end to end. An SME needs to develop a sound understanding of what the business needs to achieve before looking for the technology tools that will help the business to achieve these goals, she advises.

“This requires consultation between all stakeholders, including the IT department, management, users and customer champions, while constant learning and upskilling or refreshing skills is critical for IT professionals.

“Young IT professionals thrive in creative, innovative and responsive environments. Innovation is crucial to a business being able to improve its processes, bring new and improved products and services to market, increase its efficiency and, most importantly, improve its profitability. Whatever form it takes, innovation is a creative process,” she illustrates.

SMEs can also recognise and validate young IT professionals by recognising that ideas may come from inside the business, including from employees, managers or in-house research and development work, or from outside the business, including from suppliers, customers, media reports, market research published by another organisation, or universities and other sources of new technologies, she says.

“Companies can achieve their desired business focus by filtering these ideas, identifying those that will take the business forward and applying the resources to achieve them.”

Further, continuous learning and professional development occur incrementally and daily. The ability and willingness to learn is a key attribute to achieve success in the IT industry. An effective leader needs to be able to mould their opinions by updating them with new information. In this way, IT personnel and business owners can demonstrate a culture of progress and innovation, helping to retain and develop skills, without being overwhelmed, she explains.


The core skills SME IT professionals require are to manage the organisation’s server and cloud environment, and break, repair and maintenance, while general IT skills required in SMEs include skills using spreadsheet programs, although using enterprise resource planning may remove this requirement, and digital marketing skills including search-engine optimisation and social media and email marketing, highlights Wang.

Documenting processes is key for efficiency, quality and execution, and business strategy lies at the heart of any IT project. Therefore, project management is an indispensable skill for SMEs to deliver projects efficiently, use resources cost-effectively and deploy the right staff to complete the tasks, notes Wang.

“Effectively coordinating people, budgets and achieving resource savings, prompt resolution of problems and the anticipation of future issues require project management and it will become an imperative in every area of a business,” she adds.

Further, interdepartmental collaboration is key to reduce the risks to operations of key personnel leaving an SME. It is important to understand what is happening in other departments to be effective in one’s own role, as overall success of a business is never dependent on one department.

“It provides all parts of the business with an appreciation of the challenges that each department faces, ensuring less finger-pointing in the business. At a leadership level, it is important to communicate with other department heads and understand the challenges in each area to see if my own department is able to help out.”

Edited by Martin Zhuwakinyu
Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor

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