An Information System Check-Up Model for Small and Medium Enterprises

Abstract

Information Systems evaluation in Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) often represents a difficult task. Because of cultural, economic, or organizational reasons, SMEs rarely make use of formal business strategies: as a consequence, the management of the Information System (IS) is often approached in a non-formalized way. Moreover, such enterprises are often characterized by a limited number of specialized staff, hence either the management or the ownership itself should be provided with a well defined, low cost, and easy to use procedure for the evaluation of the Information Technology (IT) investments and for the assessment of the existing IS. This paper presents an Information System Check-Up Model (ISCUM) which fulfills these requirements: according to the strategic importance and the current state of the IS for each functional area, the model highlights the inefficiencies of each area and identifies the strategic choices required to improve the IS performance.