ICT Service Platform Promotes Small and Medium Enterprise Informatization

    Following the continuous development of computer science since 1950’s and the rising technology of the Internet since 1990’s, the influence of information technology is booming in terms like never before. Lifestyles and societies have been greatly affected by the ceaseless rise and development of both information and telecommunication technologies.

    The information and the communication technologies have been developing in their own markets. The trend of their combination has been presented as the development of technologies, especially with the popularity of the Internet. These two sorts of technologies are studying, combining and penetrating each other. Meanwhile, their markets are also complementing, promoting and developing mutually. Varieties of combinations in many aspects such as network, access, termination and service, give birth to Information and Communication Technology (ICT).

1 Introduction to ICT Service
ICT service, a kind of comprehensive service, integrates information and communication technology with application services, which mainly comprise system integration, outsourcing, consulting, and software developing services and so on. Essentially speaking, ICT service is the combination of information and network. Its appearance marks the revolution that information technology centering on the Internet has entered into an advanced stage, during which the quality of services are soaring, for the production and management of enterprise, and for the telecommunication services of family users.

    ICT service platform is the integration of varieties of existing platforms and businesses, which makes different productions to complement each other during the integration process, and far surpasses the effect of productions’ piling up. As to the operating mode, it provides overall support to the shift from providing traditional services to providing comprehensive information services.

    On the other hand, ICT service system, based on open architecture, is combining the technologies of Computer Telecommunication Integration (CTI), Intelligent Network (IN), and Next Generation Network (NGN), so that the innovation of new services can be performed efficiently[1].

    In order to realize the wonderful ICT services, the current informatization state of the enterprise should be grasped, and how ICT services satisfy the demands of small and medium enterprises on informatization should also be studied sufficiently.

2 The Status Quo and Demands on Informatization in Small and Medium Enterprises

2.1 The Status Quo of Informatization in Small and Medium Enterprises
With flexible operating mechanism and strong market adaptability, Chinese small and medium enterprises have grown fast in recent years and become the main driving force of the Chinese economy. Confronting the fiercer market competition, small and medium enterprises desire of advancing various of their own capabilities, especially of informatization, to survive or even develop themselves in the markets.

    In China, small and medium enterprises have become the main foundation of economic development, market prosperity and employment generation, making half of the contributions to the national economy. The latest data cited from the National Development and Reform Committee show that the number of small and medium enterprises, as well as private-owned enterprises, have been up to more than 42.42 million, accounting for 99.6% of the total number of domestic enterprises.

    Meanwhile the number of registered small and medium-sized enterprises is up to 3.2 million, out of which individual proprietors is up to 39.21 million.

    Currently, only 35% of the enterprises realize the electro-accountant with a single PC, and 10% of the enterprises utilize a software based on client/service (C/S) architecture to perform a stock-sale-deposit management. Fewer enterprises perform Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), and open electronic commerce business. The above cases show that the informatization progress of Chinese small and medium enterprises is fairly behind. These enterprises only concentrate on the manufacture, sale and development of their department productions at the level of hand management instead of sharing the benefits from the informatization in management and sale. The main causes are concluded to be as the following:

• Short of professional knowledge and experiences about the informatization
• Short of funds
• Short of professional IT personnel
  

    Overall, the bottleneck of informatization in Chinese small enterprises can be summarized as: weak foundation, insufficient funds and lack of talent. Therefore, finding the proper way for informatization in small enterprises, further prompting enterprises to be the mainstream of innovation, pushing the realization of scientific achievements forward in small and traditional enterprises, are vital to advance the competitive power of the Chinese economy.

2.2 Demands on Informatization in Small and Medium Enterprises
According to the forecast made by CCID Consulting in 2006, the general scale of investment in informatization rose to 16.5%, or up to 142.77 billion RMB, and is estimated to rise up to 186.92 billion RMB in 2008, and approximately up to
500 billion RMB in the coming 3 years. The complex increasing ratio is up to 15.1% during the 2005—2008 period as shown in Figure 1[2].

    Small and medium enterprises have no great essential differences with large enterprises in the enterprise management, and both have the requirements of informatization by stages as shown in Figure 2[3].

    According to Figure 2, there are 3 stages in the progress of informatization in small and medium enterprises whose requirements are also classified according to these 3 categories:

    (1) Demands on Network Service
    Building corresponding networks is necessary to realize informatization for small and medium enterprises. Based on IP, the current actual standard of network intercommunication, traditional network services have evolved a great deal of new demands on network service. The representative demands are Virtual Private Network (VPN), network security and storage, and so on.

    (2) Demands on Telecommunication Services
    Demands on telecommunication services comprise interior and exterior communication with enterprises, such as enterprise exchange, instant message, multi-party conference, manual secretary station, network fax, and so on.

    (3) Demands on IT Application Services
    IT application services include informatization of interior management and exterior market management. Informatization of interior management mainly comprises office automation, human resource management, customer relationship management, and stock-sale-deposit management. It helps issue schemes and tasks, dispatch documents, assess performance, manage customer and enterprise resource, and promote to elevate work and operation efficiency in enterprises. Informatization of exterior market management comprises production advertising, electronic commerce business, order form management and sale service. It is performed through enterprise website, message releasing and information searching system as to enhance the enterprise’s popularity, generalize production brand and expand market channels.

3 Operators’Transformation and Corresponding Measures

3.1 Operators’ Transformation
In terms of the developing progress of telecommunication business, traditional telecommunication enterprises are now confronting bottlenecks in technology and market while developing. Traditional telecommunication operators are facing the fact that single voice service has been more and more difficult to get profit. As the Internet continues to grow, the drift for traditional telecommunication operators is to transform themselves into comprehensive information service providers, as well as to expand their market share.

    In 2006, Chinese telecommunication operators faced certain challenges that never existed before. With regard to the 3G license issue, telecommunication operators are confronting the strategic choice of the communication and the information services. The upgrading and evolving of network technology provides new applied fields and spaces for business. The more the telecommunication market accelerates, the more it internationalizes. The improvement on the legal system of the telecommunication industry encourages fair and orderly competition by various measures. Operators’ assessment made by State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council (SASAC) is transforming from a single outgoing assessment to an assessment with combined control of strategic layout and benefits. Therefore, the decision-making body of enterprises is encountering more difficulties in reaching decisions regarding current circumstances, and that enterprises should run with specialized operation and multi-mode investment to avoid risks and also to expand their business. The transformation to general business operation for operators, that will bring a series of adjustments and revolution to the business structure, production design, management mode of business operation and network and so on, have been proposed. Figure 3 shows the possible transforming paths of operators.

    Operators have a huge market for ICT service enterprises. The ICT
services-oriented enterprises, especially the small and medium ones, are the key markets for the telecommunication operators’ transformation. Telecommunication operators, having advantages on network resources, can provide high-grade communication services. On the other hand, facing the wave of informatization, their single communication service has hardly met the demands for informatization. It is therefore necessary to integrate the general informatization plan with the communication services and IT to get continuous growth.

3.2 Constructing ICT Service Platform
Ever since, markets of small and medium enterprises, the most competitive markets, have been the blankness for telecommunication operators. So, constructing new generation of integrated ICT service platforms, which focus on service and would be rented to customers, can satisfy the demands of enterprises. Through the application of ICT, mobile, individual and multimedia business environment and unified information centers can be provided to users promoting people’s communication and cooperation. ICT service platform-oriented small and medium enterprises can provide service trusteeship in time to help small enterprises construct their virtual IT departments without any costs.

    Based on service trusteeship, small and medium enterprises need not invest too much to construct their IT service system, yet they can easily share diversified applications and services such as high-speed Internet access, network trusteeship, instant messaging, website building, office automation, human resource, and supply-chain management and so on.

    Proposing a new mode of service and individual resolving scheme, according to different user groups, is the key to the success of ICT service platform built by operators for enterprises. According to the current market reaction, ICT service platform has been greatly popularized and regarded as capable of not only reducing the IT operation costs, but also elevating service quality of the IT system. For small and medium enterprises, total informatization services provided by telecommunication operators with high brand popularity and strength, is no doubt a Win-Win situation.

    The mode with basic communication pack, industry resolving scheme and application service platform complementing each other, is adopted in practice. Basic communication pack is the traditional predominating item of telecommunication operators, and it is the assurance to data service, which not only has abundant combinations of communication productions, but also clears the worries of customers by service trusteeship such as network maintenance and management. Furthermore, the innovative mode of renting network productions largely reduces the costs of customers. Operators may provide consultancy services by proposing solution schemes for different industries, while renting platform from Application Service Provider (ASP) makes it possible for services to be readily available to customers.

3.3 Categories of ICT Services
ICT service platform, including application portal, ICT application, management platform and communication network and so on, has an open architecture, unified user interface, integrated business application, convenient customization, and effective operation and management.

    In the beginning, the ICT platform aimed at generalizing customers, then gradually exploited top customers, and became the electronic business platform among enterprises at last. On the electronic business platform, customers of enterprises can carry through interior or exterior deals and cooperation within a unified environment, enlarged market channels, reduced dealing costs to the maximum extent, and increased income and benefits of enterprises. The platform will finally cover other areas such as banks, security, insurance, government, education and multinational corporation.

3.3.1 ICT Services for Enterprises

    (1) ICT Services for Small and Medium Enterprises
    Once constructing ASP platform of informatization for small and medium enterprises, its customers, through unified voice and Web portal, can share applied services of communication such as enterprise exchange, short number dialing, universal number, multi-party communication, and information services such as mailbox, self-help website building, instant messaging, office automation, human resources, stock-sale-deposit, information security and so on.

    (2) ICT Services for Industry Enterprises
    Services are provided in the method of combining basic communication pack, industry resolving scheme and ASP platform.

    (3) ICT Service for Large Scale Enterprises 
    Services are provided by combining production and individual customization.

3.3.2 ICT Services for Family andIndividual

    (1) Family
    ICT comprehensive resolving scheme, based on community information constructing and centering on home customers, provides various information services related to family such as family space, family financial, family health care, family education, community service, social public service, and community management and so on.

    (2) Individual ICT Service
    Mainly for individual, the ICT services include personal life, entertainment, and work and so on. Opening this service nowadays, mobile operators would have the biggest advantage because the mobile phone is the perfect gadget to which to provide ICT services to individuals.

4 China Netcom Broadband Business Platform

4.1 Platform Architecture and Advantages
After long terms of investigating, demonstrating and several times of discussing with software circle and small enterprises, China Netcom believes that ASP mode is the effective method to realize informatization in small and medium enterprises, at present.

    China Netcom is the first operator to take broadband strategy as one of its basic strategies; it devotes to provide enterprise customers higher speed broadband network and more universal, individualized and customized communication-resolving scheme in expectation of changing the role as a single voice circuit provider.

    Based on ASP mode, China Netcom broadband business platform is constructed for small and medium enterprises to provide comprehensive information services, on which there are basic network establishments, operating software and hardware, which are necessary to realize the informatization. As shown in Figure 4, broadband business platform is able to construct virtual IT department for small enterprises, take charge of a series of services including executing service in early stage and maintaining service in later stage. Through the platform, enterprises can share information system via the Internet by just paying rental fees, instead of purchasing the software and hardware, building a machine room, and employing IT staffs. Meanwhile, broadband business platform can assure the security of enterprise data through certain technology and measurement, and it has nearly no difference with the information system built by enterprise itself in actual results. The platform drops the threshold and reduces risk in realizing informatization in small and medium enterprises, which can both free funds of purchasing IT products and technology, maintaining the operation and utilize the information system conveniently.

    The whole broadband business platform, which starts with Internet application and services and makes full use of the advantages on services of cable communication and Internet access, provides abundant and manageable applications and services for informatization in small and medium enterprises.

    Generally supported by the platform, broadband business platform integrates all kinds of application system so that enterprise customers could get abundant, manageable, expandable, stable and secure ICT services. The platform can satisfy various demands of small and medium enterprises, and can be accessed via voice, Web, short message, and desktop portal, after unified identification and authentication.

    At present, the opening services of broadband business platform have two categories—information application and communication application. The platform has the following advantages:

    (1) Comprehensive resolving scheme: the platform is providing rich interfaces supporting system, voice, short message, integration of application system and other telecommunication business system in order to realize the combination of the recently opened business with the existing business in fields of information technology and communication technology. It can satisfy the overall demands on services of communication, informatization application and commercial application service in small and medium enterprises, and elevate the enterprises’ efficiency.

    (2) One-stop service: supports integrated access, unified portal, united identification and authentication, and application system integration. Enterprise could meet corresponding demands on informatization without purchasing a hardware, building a network, safeguarding a network and developing an application software.

    (3) The consuming concept of "rental service" and the operating mode of "open and play" can resolve funds shortage problem during informatization progress.

    (4) Depending on advantages of technology and talent, China Netcom provides overall support to informatization technology, resolving talent shortage problem of small and medium enterprises.

    (5) Abundant businesses meet the demands of different industries. Furthermore, with the compatibility, the platform can combine other excellent third-party software to satisfy the demands of informatization in enterprises with different levels and stages.

4.2 Function of Business
Broadband business platform of Netcom provides service items that aim at the demands of informatization of small and medium enterprises, and are divided into categories of information application, communication application and service support. The category of information application is further subdivided into network, management, and commercial applications businesses. Similarly, the communication application category is also subdivided into voice, wireless and Internet value-added businesses. The main contents of the enterprise’s informatization are shown in Figure 5.

4.2.1 Information Application Category
Information application refers to application services that utilizes Internet technology to help customers elevate the efficiency and level of production, operation, management, decision, and to further promote the economic effects and competitive power of the enterprise.

    (1) Network Application
    Network application business is the basic applied Internet services provided for customers such as the enterprise mailbox, domain name service, self-help website building, products advertisement, and so on.

    (2) Management Application
    Management application business provides customers applied software of management based on the Internet. It comprises different management functions such as office automation, human resource management, supply-chain management, customer relationship management, stock-sale-deposit management, project management and so on.

    (3) Commercial Application
    Commercial application business provides customers with services of electronic commerce business, which purchase or sell goods or services in the Internet, such as information service, on-line dealing, on-line payment and so on. The application mainly includes Business to Business (B2B) and Business to Customer (B2C).

4.2.2 Communication Application Category
Communication application business means providing value-added business of voice, video and multimedia, using basic network and some special platform, terminal equipment and so on.

    (1) Voice Value-added Business
    Voice value-added business includes services of enterprise exchange and network-fax, which is based on some basic networks and platforms such as Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) and Intelligent Network and so on.

    (2) Wireless Data Value-added Business
    Wireless data value-added business is based on some basic networks and platforms such as Personal Handphone System (PHS), and mainly includes enterprise short message.

    (3) Internet Value-added Business
    Internet value-added business is based on some basic networks and platforms such as the Internet, and mainly includes instant messaging.

4.2.3 Service Support Category
Service supporting business provides services of constructing, maintaining and management for informatization; it mainly includes equipment rental, maintenance and management trusteeship, Internet Data Center (IDC), network security and system integration, and so on.

4.3 Future Development

    (1) Finding Fields with Insistent Demands
    At present, for Chinese small and medium enterprises, there are diversities of area and level in the application of informatization. Owing to the diversified demands made by small and medium enterprises from different industries, scales and characters, at different stages of the informatization progress, and the shortage in funds and talents of small and medium enterprises, it is necessary for them to elevate their adaptability and flexibility in investing and resolving the scheme of IT productions, and the general performance of the informatization. As the trend of individualization is becoming more evident, ignoring the individualized demands and imposing uniformity in all cases will violate the market rule, and the informatization demands of the enterprises will not be satisfied. On the other hand, if more attention is paid to the individualized demands, telecommunication enterprises will then carry the heavy burden during the market operation and development on account of the resources being scattered.

    Broadband business platform should concentrate on fields with insistent demands, starting from subdivision industries, then gradually put out ICT products for important industries, popularizing services for the corresponding industries, and making every productions of broadband business platform more effective and widely applied on the market.

    (2) Reasonably Customizing Contents of Information Service 
    The large number and wide distribution of small and medium enterprises rule the diversity of demands. Broadband business platform should develop diversified information services aiming at different demands. In order to elevate pertinence and popularity, the demands made by small and medium enterprises should be classified, and some categories of resolving scheme of information service should also be customized differently.

    After plenty of survey and analysis, and considering the status quo of small and medium enterprises, broadband business platform would provide more abundant contents for information services such as voice, short message, data, value-added business, and provide rich productions to satisfy diversified and individualized demands on informatization for small and medium enterprises.

References
[1] An Integrated Solution for ZTE Corporation Informatization [R]. Shenzhen: ZTE Corporation, 2006.
[2] 2005-2006 Annual Report on IT Application Market in China’s SMB Sector [R]. Beijing: CCID Consulting Co., Ltd, 2006.
[3] Research on ICT Service Market for Enterprise User [R]. Beijing: Institute of Communications Standards Research, CATR, MII, 2006.

Manuscript received: 2006-11-12