MOEA pushes info-tech for small and medium firms

Eighteen industries have benefited from the Small and Medium Information Management Project established in July of this year, according to officials of the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA, 經濟3?/CHINESE>).

"Industries are enthusiastic about learning to cope with the era of e-commerce," said Chang Chieh-ming (張3ワ?/CHINESE>), project specialist at the Chung-shan Institute of Science and Technology (???s科學研究院).

The government has declared this month to be "Information Month" (資??/CHINESE>), and yesterday marked the beginning of a 10-day exhibition at the World Trade Center (世貿????/CHINESE>) in Taipei. Industry e-commerce is the central theme for the small and medium enterprises.

The MOEA announced this week the names of the latest 10 industries that have been approved to receive NT$2 million [per business] for setting up computer-based management systems. Textile, shoe-making, and food and pharmaceutical industries are among the chosen ones.

Chang said that in the middle of December, the project would accept applications from two more industries.

Industry associations with more than 100 members have to make a formal proposal on behalf of their members.

In the meantime, a significant portion of small and medium enterprises in the manufacturing industry sector are still adjusting.

"Among the 1,040,000 small and medium companies in Taiwan, roughly 60 percent of them do not use computers for management or operations," Chang said.

In a lot of cases the companies hire fewer than 10 people, and use computers only for word processing instead of information delivery or decision-making on the management level, he said.

According to Chang, although the definition of a small and medium enterprise in the manufacturing sector is one that has capital over NT$60 million, and hires fewer than 200 people, the number of people usually hired is a lot smaller.

The MOEA is currently trying to introduce an Application Service Program (ASP, ?用3n體務) to work with small and medium enterprises to use on-line services more. ASP is provided by software companies and internet service providers (ISP), and ASP crews would be responsible for software maintenance, and updating. "ASP is what may best serve the need for small and medium enterprises," said Chang.

"Small and medium enterprises only need to pay a fee to use the computer software that best suits them. However, they still are concerned about using the on-line system for company financial management, and associated security problems," Chang added.