SME Innovation & Differentiation as a Business Strategic Priority – Leveraging the SME IT-Capability Maturity Framework

In a globalized business landscape characterised by complex and evolving operational environments, " standing out from the crowd " is an important factor in effectively competing on the global stage. Despite greater resource constraints, Small and Medium sized enterprises (SMEs) are recognised for their agility and flexibility comparative to larger firms, and thus may be better positioned to achieve a distinctive edge through exploiting innovation and differentiation-related business opportunities. Innovation, which is regarded as pivotal to business longevity, is critical to SMEs for multiple reasons. Ability to innovate, however, is dependent on several internal and external factors, one of which is the ability to leverage Information Technology to support the SMEs' innovation capability. As technology in itself is not sufficient to acquire a competitive edge in today's dynamic markets, " how can SMEs derive continuous and sustainable value from ICT in order to meet their innovation needs and drive innovation and differentiation " ? The answer lies in the SMEs' adoption of a capability mindset, which recognises that sustainable competitive advantage is dependent not on technology itself, but rather on the creation of distinct and inimitable IT capabilities that differentiate a company from its competitors. This white paper introduces the SME IT Capability Maturity Framework (SME IT-CMF) as a key tool to support SMEs in leveraging their IT as an enabler of business innovation opportunities.