The EVITA International Cooperation Program on -Business Promotion for SMEs

The

EVITA
International

Cooperation

Program

on

e
-
Business

Promotion

for

SMEs

Hatzakis Ilias

Project Manager,

GRNET

EVITA , Vilnius Policy Maker Workshop 12/05/2011


EVITA
–

INTERREG IVC

E
xchange,
V
alorisation and Transfer of regional best
practice policy measures for SME support on
IT

and e
-
business
A
doption


Vilnius, May 12
th
, 2011
2





EVITA

main rationale


LISBON STRATEGY/ Europe 2020
-
digital agenda:
stimulation of SMEs for IT and e
-
business/ Europe
2020 Digital Agenda



Necessity of exchange between countries/
stakeholders



Necessity for the right learning tools for SMEs

a world in transmission:


The financial crisis/ especially affects new EU members


Revolutionary technology trends both in infrastructure and services terms
(cloud computing, grid technology, terra bps networks, smart mobile
devices, media convergence and growing multiple accessibility networks)


Opening of PSI and the e
-
participation


Web 2.0/ user generated content/ Social media revolution


New business models/ globalization


Complex digital landscape

…But then also …



we already live

IN the cloud…

(the social cloud)


Vilnius, May 12
th
, 2011


Athens, 8 December 2008
5

building social media campaigns for companies


measures and ranks your social influence online

8



C1

C2

6 Study visits

C3

5 Policy

Maker

Workshops

C4

e
-
learning platform

Training content

1
e
-
tutor seminar

5 regional IT training


strategy reports

Best
e
BSN

Policy

Measures Guide

TUTORS

5 SME seminars

10 Dissemination events

Web portal

Communication material

Study
e
-
learning & SME

Competitiveness


6 Consortium meetings

Mar 09

Apr 10

Dec 10

Dec 10

Oct 09

May 11

Mar 10

Oct 09

Jan 10

Nov 10

Jul 11

6 Project Reports & Payment Claims

PM tools

Major tangible outcomes:


For Policy Makers
:

–
Study Visits

–
Corpus report on IT SME training Regional IT strategies for SME IT training

–
Guides and Studies

–
Policy Maker Workshops



For SMEs
:

–
Multilingual training content on e
-
business

–
e
-
learning platform (moodle)/ multimedia/ online courses

–
SME seminars




9

Analysis of “IT training strategies”

in 10 selected countries

1.
Identification of 10 countries where the penetration rate
of ICT in SMEs is the most important


We have crossed four international indicators :

Global Information Technology Report
(2008
-
2009)

–
Key indicator1
: “the use of Internet in the commercial relations”

i2010 classification of the European Union

–
Key indicator2
: “Integration of the ICT in business relation of SMEs with suppliers and/or customers”

OECD ICT database
and
Eurostat
, Community Survey on ICT use in enterprises (May 2009)

–
Key indicator3
: “Internet penetration by size class”

–
Key indicator4
: “Internet selling and purchasing by industry”

10

Identification, census and analysis of
“IT training
strategies”
used
in selected countries


These strategies have as objective to develop the
use of ICT by SMEs on the given territory.


These strategies

–
Are specific “SME IT training” in order to help SMEs on IT

–
Focus on the use of e
-
learning by regions or governments

–
Can be: instruments / tools / techniques / methodologies

–
Have been evaluated as “best applied”

–
Fits to the profile to our beneficiary regions

Vilnius, May 12
th
, 2011
11

14 initiatives selected in 7 countries


United States
-

Switzerland
-

Denmark

Netherlands
-

Canada
-

Australia
-
Ireland

2 main axes to analyse 6 main IT Training Strategies


1
-

The IT relevance for the user (SME) 2
-

The public support

To combine 6 kind of
actions :

-

to accompany SMEs at the
different level of IT
-
maturity

From awareness to
optimization of the IT
implementation

-

to obtain a synergy of training
resources and competencies

-
to spread and amortize
investments on long period

-
to fit market needs with more
flexible training plans


Recommendations for

an e
-
Learning region strategy

Vilnius, May 12
th

, 2011

“Best European e
-
business Policy Measures” Guide


1
. scout a number of EU “standard and accredited” databases in order to identify the most favorable and
successfully policy initiatives (national or regional) related to the promotion of IT (mainly e
-
Business) to SMEs.


DG Enterprise & Industry


European e
-
Business Support Network for SMEs (eBSN)


e
-
Business W@tch Observatory


Organisation for Economic Co
-
operation and Development (OECD)


European Information Technology Observatory (EITO)


EVITA “IT training Strategy Report”


Transnational Cooperation Programmes Databases (ie Interreg, Programme MED etc).


2.
Selection in order to meet certain criteria such as:


Effectiveness


New Media Trends (WEB 2.0 / SEO / SEM etc)


Relevance with EVITA project


EU recognition


Vilnius, May 12
th

, 2011
15

“Best European e
-
business Policy Measures” Guide


3. DESCRIPTION


Background information.

Detailed information

Short description

Expected
or/and Achieved
Outcomes, Targets
–

Results

Delivery M

Key activities mechanism

Web 2.0 relevance

Financing Sources

Detected impact in region of origin

Main lessons learnt

Main Challenges

Critical Success Factors for the transferability of the practice

Vilnius, May 12
th

, 2011
16

Conclusions



Commitment of the Public sector at top level

is crucial for the success of any e
-
Business
initiative in order to gain critical mass adoption of new technologies. It enormously facilitates
the work needed on awareness and stakeholders' effort ('top down' approach)


Private co
-
management and co
-
financement

is preferable in order to ensure financial
sustainability in the long term. The people in charge must have a "technology neutral" vision
and be real business experts. Universities have a role to play but practical knowledge is of
paramount importance to drive the right changes and transfer knowledge to users.


Involve local people

in the community to ensure commitment of SMEs which typically cannot
be reached with an institutional approach ('bottom up' approach).


Don’t waste time

and resources obtaining news and website content that is freely available on
other sites. Provide links to these communities and add your own value where it really matters.

Vilnius, May 12
th

, 2011
18

Component 4:

Tools and implementation


Vilnius, May 12
th

2011
19

e
-
learning platform

Training content

5 SME seminars

Oct 09

Nov 10

Oct 09

The e
-
learning platform

A multilingual, interactive and user
-
friendly
e
-
learning platform

enriched
with the training content. It is a strategic choice to focus on technology
enhanced professional learning, having in mind that in the very close
future, the technological possibilities, especially mobile and broadband
solutions, will change today's learning scenarios and that the provision of
e
-
learning services will grow substantially, to satisfy the growing demand
of professionals in SMEs.


-

videos/ ppts/ courses


Athens, 8 December 2008
21

SME pilot seminars


At least 30 SMEs


Duration: case by case/ at least 10h


SME selection procedure


Implementation of an
e
-
learning deployment
scenario


Local language


Multimedia classes/ personal computers



The training package for SMEs

A

training

content

on

e
-
business

and

the

benefits

to

SME

competitiveness
.

This

content

aims

at

improving

managerial

understanding

and

skills

in

e
-
business

by

entrepreneurs,

based

on

best

practices,

local

e
-
government

services

and

is

written

in

easy

“business”

language
.




Basic

IT

knowledge

for

SMEs,



Introduction

to

e
-
business

models

and

practices


The

digital

marketing

plan


Techniques

for

attracting

visitors

to

a

website


Techniques

that

convert

visits

into

business

contacts


Techniques

that

convert

business

contacts

into

customers


Techniques

that

create

loyalty

and

develop

customers




24

•
Building an
Action Plan

•
Web statistics

•
Target
analysis

•
Segmentation

•
Market
Analysis

•
Web Analytics

Strategy

Planning

Acting

Measuring

VISITORS

LEADS

CLIENTS

LOYAL
CUST.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Search Engine Marketing (SEM)

Ad Campaigns

Marketplaces & Directories

Email Marketing

Public Relations

Social Media (SMM)

Blogs

Forums

Call
-
to
-
Action

Affiliate Programs

Usability

Persuation

Offline control

Web Analytics

Newsletter

Selling
Persuation

Client Orientation

Web Analytics

Cross selling

Newsletter

Community Creation

Lock In’s



Local

SEO

SEM

27

Heat map showing the
sight of studied subjects



Lead Partner:

Hatzakis Ilias
,
Project Manager
,

GRNET

Contacts:

+ 30 210 7474268, e
-
mail: hatzakis@grnet.lv


EVITA , Vilnius 12/05/2011


Thank you



http://www.evita
-
interreg4c.eu