For survival... Business intelligence critical

This was the view articulated by Microsoft’s Eastern Caribbean manager George Gobin when he addressed the launch of the company’s West Indies Small Business Centre web site at the Trinidad and Tobago Cham-ber of Commerce building in Westmoorings last week.

According to Gobin, today’s competitive international business environment was making it increasingly challenging for "mom and pop" shops to compete and the playing field was not level.

However, Gobin explained that through proper utilisation of business intelligence, small businesses can not only compete successfully against their larger competitors but carve out their own niche in the marketplace.

He explained that this was one of the main reasons why the West Indies Small Business Centre website was created. He added that in today’s business enviroment, small businesses could ill afford not to have a certain degree of automation in their operations. Gobin said he knew of one small business, a roti shop in Fort Lauderdale run by TT nationals, which conducts its business online

However in automating their business operations, Gobin said small business owners must ensure that their systems are protected both from external hackers and viruses as well as "the enemy within."

He added that the reality of business today is that "there are always good guys and bad guys" and one has to be prepared to deal with all contingencies.

Noting that 90 percent of the businesses in Latin America and the Caribbean are small businesses, Gobin said it is a proven fact that small businesses can reactivate an economy. In TT, there are 18,852 small businesses which have generated 87,988 jobs to date.

Gobin also explained that Microsoft conducted a special needs analysis for Latin America and the Caribbean in establishing the web site and there will be regular updates to meet the needs of regional small business people.

Microsoft senior vice president (small medium solutions and partners) Orlando Ayala said the web site will allow the region to share the successful experiences of other countries, refine processes and "observe how powerfully technology can assist small business in a globalised world."