Reported on Mon, 05 Jun 2006

Medium-sized businesses across Europe are looking to develop their technological capacity as a way of withstanding the threat of the big corporations, new research suggests, and taking out a business loan could help them to expand.

A poll by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) found that 65 per cent of executives of medium-sized companies see technology as critical to their ability to grow, with 70 per cent saying its expansion must be closely integrated with the overall business strategy.

"The research shows that while there are clearly a number of pressures that mid-market firms are facing - including pricing, skills and competition - there is still plenty of room to achieve growth," said Denis McCauley, director of global technology research for the EIU.

He added that "mid-market firms are focusing on achieving growth that works for them and realise that if they think smart and apply information technology strategically, they will be around for years to come".

However, the survey showed that firms were not without concerns about their ability to handle technological developments, with 24 per cent thinking that staff skill-levels could be an impediment and 20 per cent fearing lack of IT understanding at management level.

Companies can make use of a business loan to boost their technological resources and train their workforce in how to operate the new equipment.

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