ICT Use and Trends in Small and Medium Businesses in Poland – Growth Factors and Inhibitors

“ICT use in Small and Medium Business in Poland. Growth factors and inhibitors” is a publication describing information technology penetration and change factors for SMB market. The basic goal of the publication was to present current picture of ICT use in transition economy of the European emerging market like Poland. This publication is dedicated to: a) policy makers specializing in SMB on emerging markets, b) economists looking for analysis of ICT use in SMB in Poland, c) ICT vendors operating on SMB markets in Poland or other emerging markets, d) sociologists looking for information society development data. The publication is based on the latest researches and reports. The basic reasons for ICT implementation as well as concerns hampering investment decisions are discussed. The most important source for conclusions is the MS Index, regular research prepared and run by Microsoft Poland in cooperation with Warsaw School of Economics. Over 500 small and medium companies are surveyed quarterly on their attitude toward usage and implementation of information technologies. Poland is a medium size European country (38 million people) with 15 years of history of transition process toward free market economy. SMB played important role in this process. Polish market dynamics is rather typical for emerging markets, despite the 2004 European Union accession and becoming part of matured EU market. The discussed change factors are as follows: Growth: a) broad ICT product availability; b) broad ICT service availability; c) computer literacy; d) cost reduction achieved by ICT use. Inhibitors: a) ICT costs; b) lack of needs; c) lack of government e-services; d) limited availability of more complex services.