Efforts to bring business-automation programs to Hong Kong's small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are heating up, fuelled by the marketing campaigns of global technology vendors and Chinese software firms.
Industry experts said the push to get small local businesses to adopt sophisticated enterprise resource planning (ERP) and customer relationship management (CRM) software reflected the economic upturn and renewed confidence in information technology to attain a competitive advantage.
Herman Lam, Microsoft Hong Kong director for small and mid-market solutions and partners business, said such applications used to be the preserve of large companies with substantial information technology budgets.
'If SMEs are to thrive today, they must also deploy key technologies that larger organisations use to improve efficiency,' he said.
These small businesses are looking at a range of vendors, from software giant Microsoft to Shenzhen-based Kingdee International Software Group, to help them connect with customers, employees, partners and suppliers.
Hong Kong has nearly 300,000 SMEs, which make up about 98 per cent of the business sector and provide jobs for 60 per cent of the city's workforce.
