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SMEs have different needs with respect to ICT applications as compared to large companies. Although ICT suppliers focus their attention more and more on SMEs, there is still a lack of affordable ICT solutions for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises. The 6th eBSN Workshop was primarily addressed to policy-makers and business associations accompanying SMEs going digital. In this context, the goal of the workshop was to present some good practices in improving the availability of suitable e-Business solutions for SMEs both from a European but also an international perspective. The main objectives were:

- To assist SMEs in selecting IT solutions;

- To promote e-Business interoperable solutions.

More than 100 representatives from the public administrations of the Member States, and Acceding Countries, the European Commission, business associations, the academic community and SMEs attended the workshop. A large consensus emerged during the workshop, with regards to the importance of integration, interoperability and standardisation activities to support the convergence of SMEs to e-Business. Furthermore, several practical examples of initiatives of interoperable and integrated e-Business solutions for SMEs in cross-sector or sector- specific processes were presented. More specifically:

Policy initiatives from North-America and Asia: E-business activities in Europe can benefit from

exchanging information with success stories around the globe. In that respect, initiatives presented from Canada and South-Korea can be referred to as best cases towards improving the availability of e-Business solutions for SMEs. e-Business is considered a key enabler of productivity growth, increasing profit and decreasing costs for enterprises. In this respect, it is necessary to adopt and exploit technology, information and knowledge to create sustainable competitive advantage while further investments are required to fully capitalise on the benefits of ICTs. However, the implementation of e-Business in SMEs, dictates both organisational changes and technological innovations. At first businesses confront a new situation that requires remodelling of processes, modernisation of service delivery channels, interoperability and high competition. With concern to the technical perspective, new models could be applied to e-Business. The ASP model seems to provide a solution in cutting down development and maintenance costs for e-Business solutions, through introducing intermediaries, namely ASP providers. The ASP model is considered technologically advanced and evolving as the introduction of Web Services has affected ASP development. From the strategic point of view, awareness on e-Business should be promoted. In that direction, main activities from the implementation perspective include conferences, online tools, pilot applications, seminars and dissemination material. Moreover, it is important to capture political attention on e-Business, to determine and understand requirements for innovation and reorganisation, to develop e-skills and e-talent and finally to establish partnerships. Overall, the importance of innovation in SMEs and the need for establishment of links to the IT sector was underlined.

Assisting SMEs in selecting IT solutions: Implementing an e-Business solution typically requires the

selection and set-up of the appropriate IT infrastructure (network, hardware, software) and the right advice to align the technical solution with the business objective pursued. Consultancy services are also needed to properly adapt the related business processes and to define a training plan for company users. SMEs usually need guidance in finding the right partners to implement this approach. This is a domain where business support organisations can bring value. The objective of this session was to present good policy practices in this field and to get an IT industry perspective on this question. Representatives from Italy, Germany, Spain and the UK presented good policy practices that are mainly operated through the Internet aiming to associate SME requirements for e-Business to IT suppliers. The overall approach for partner-matching consists of the identification of company (SME) needs and investigation of potential suppliers into a list of IT products and services providers. Key issues are the accurate determination of needs as well as population of the list of IT providers with adequate and accredited entries that could be benchmarked. Apart from the technical perspective, marketing and consulting through events and seminars could also assist SMEs in selecting IT solutions. It is acknowledged that a strong network of partners is the basis for a proper match of SMEs to IT companies. Subsequently, the involvement of stakeholders at political and regional level to guarantee networking stability and standardisation is vital for the acceptance of such a matching-network by SMEs.

the eEurope 2005 mid-term review. Therefore it is considered necessary for eBSN to examine ways to define and promote interoperable solutions in the e-Business field. Particular attention must be paid to standardisation and the role of open source software. The implementation of interoperability implicates work on technical, semantic, organisational and regulatory issues. However in order to establish a satisfactory solution to interoperability, consensus should be reached. This consensus is supported by standards; therefore the need for standardisation is evident. Standards are concerned not only for the technology perspective but also with describing information and business processes. CEN, OASIS, Dublin Core and other sector-specific standards (e.g. EDITEX for textile industries) or standardisation bodies for SMEs are involved in the standardisation process. Moreover at the EC level, the eBusiness Interoperability Forum (eBIF) considers interoperability solutions relating to e-Business and strategic recommendations concerning required standardisation activities. Interoperability for SMEs could be further enforced through cross-border cooperation and political dialogue through wide networks for enterprises.

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eBSN workshop