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Super SMEs beat recession

While most SMEs are feeling the effects of the credit crunch and lingering economy, Super SMEs are thriving because of their investment in IT.

By Janae Olinger, 8 Dec 2008 at 12:59

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Small to medium enterprises (SMEs) with an investment in IT infrastructure, staff training and marketing have been dubbed ‘super’ because of their readiness to survive a recession.

According to a survey by Plantronics, two out of three SMEs will reduce their financial turnover within the next six months while three out of ten are expecting to fail by autumn 2009. However, 21 per cent indicate that the slowdown is either having no effect on their business or that business is booming.

Investing in IT has helped 47 per cent of so-called super SMEs stay afloat. Super SMEs are also three times more likely to have a plan to follow in times of economic crisis while six out of ten SME managers will not.

“During times of economic uncertainty SMEs tend to view investment in IT, staff training and marketing as luxuries instead of necessities,” Paul Clark, general manager of Plantronics said. “This research shows super SMEs bucking convention and investing wisely in some or all of these areas are the most confident about the future and better placed to operate in the changing marketplace.”

Feeling a slow down for quite a while, 80 per cent of SMEs may need to resort to new tactics in order to make ends meet. Of all SMEs, 66 per cent expect a profit drop and 43 per cent will reduce staffing levels within the next six months.

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Be a Super SME... put on your lycra suit!

Our business trends undoubtedly support \"super SME\" theory above. Enquires from early life companies establishing their first IT systems, e-commerce sites, etc. have pretty much dried up and several start-up clients have sadly already gone into administration. However, our business is growing (Nov was best month yet and pipe-line for 2009 Q1 is reassuring)... why? The answer is the \"Super SME\". Call now come from established SMEs run by mature management teams seeking to invest with the objective of enabling businesses growth through streamlining business process by integrating several existing IT systems (e.g. e-commerce, accounts, CRM) & reducing overheads through consolidation of suppliers. The outcome of this kind of investment is invariably positive. See here for a real example of a <a href=\"http://www.thisispearl.com/case-studies/apac-property-services-c-539_540.html?cid=43\" target=\"_blank\">\"Super SME\"</a>. In his latest blog (http://rurl.org/181t), Tom Watson MP picks up the theme of cash investment for SMEs and suggests: \"put this cash into beta startups. Put £175,000 into 8 million startups not £2m into a few thousand.\" We have seen +\'ve ROI on investments smaller than this for companies with turnover £2-£20 mil. Tom joins most business owners calling for cash to drop into businesses, not Business Link. Until Tom can pursuade the boss, the message for SMEs is clear: dash into the nearest phone box and ermerge with your undies on top of a tight lycra suit... transformed into \"Super SME\"! Andrew <a href=\"http://www.thisispearl.com/?cid=43\" target=\"_blank\">Pearl</a>.

By Ip_Andrewd9d3c58 on Monday Dec 8