Survey Results
The analysis is based on data from all eight regions, and the overall trend is:
One region received better evaluation on all indicators (Denmark)
Seven regions received lowest evaluation on IT Practices, Belgium is an exception
All regions received highest evaluation on Information Values and Behaviours
There are substantial differences between individual companies
This means that the approach of the ICT for SMEs project turned out to be correct. Without proper behaviour and values, any activities to raise the ability and awareness of IT use will fail to solve the existing problems. We remember from the IO model used on the questionnaire that the model is build by three groups of issues:
Information Technology Practice (ITP) which takes the status on what hardware and software are available and how the knowledge and users levels are.
Information Management Practice (IMP) that deals with the usage areas and types of informa-tion, and
Information Behaviours and Values (IBV) asks about how the information is treated in the company.
The average values from each region regarding “IT Practice” differ significantly. For example, the Danish companies on average view themselves as more knowledgeable in IT equipment and its use than other regions. In addition, we know that the numbers vary significantly on each question in each region, but as patterns emerge in most of the regions we think the results will be usable.
A typical result in a company is that ITP numbers are low compared with the international total. That may indicate a need for more knowledge about the ICT systems. Another typical result may be low numbers in the IMP and IBV that may indicate a more basic need for IT strategy or information coordination.
