Communications technologies are key ingredients of any strategy for achieving competitiveness in today’s global economy. Enterprises with low levels of ICT skills are becoming increasingly vulnerable to mounting competiveness from more ICT-savvy enterprises. With the proliferation of technology in businesses, ICT skills in industry have become a mainstay regardless of enterprises’ size, but particularly of small and micros which often lack the required trained human capital and the financial resources to train them. Undoubtedly, ICTs create new opportunities, especially for micro-enterprises, to improve their business operations.
The next e-Commerce forum will focus on the empowerment of micro-enterprises through ICT. It will seek to explore and understand the issues and challenges in the adoption of ICT by micro-enterprises.
During this forum, the Malta Communications Authority (MCA) will be presenting its findings on two studies it commissioned, namely the ICT Skills Gap Analysis Study and the 7th eCommerce Household survey. The ICT Skills Gap Analysis Study sought to acquire some insight into the current level of skills possessed by various micro-enterprises with the intent of establishing a deeper understanding of the level of ICT competencies in a number of Maltese micro-enterprises, measured against a set of skills required to enable the effective use of ICT in business. On the other hand, the eCommerce Household survey, which is carried out on a yearly basis, aims to obtain an indication of the level of Internet and eCommerce usage across Malta and Gozo and the potential for growth.
In addition, the MCA is also pleased to confirm the participation of a number of stakeholders from the micro-industry to give presentations on the use of ICT in their respective micro-enterprises and how this has ultimately improved their day-to-day operations.
