ITPro introduced us to a the concept of the “Super SME” in their article Super SMEs Beat Recession.

“Small to medium enterprises (SMEs) with an investment in IT infrastructure, staff training and marketing have been dubbed ‘super’ because of their readiness to survive a recession.”

If investment is required at a time when cash is tight and bank lending is expensive; how does one become a super SME? In his latest blog, Tom Watson MP picks up the theme that cash investment is required to get SMEs through the recession. He suggests:

“put this cash into beta start-ups. Put £175,000 into 8 million start-ups not £2m into a few thousand.”

Our business trends support IT Pros “Super SME” theory… Enquires into Pearl HQ from early life companies looking to establish IT systems, e-commerce sites, etc have pretty much dried up over the last couple of months and several start-ups have sadly gone into administration.

So why is it that November was Pearl’s best month and that we can forecast growth in Q1 & 2 2009?

The answer is the “Super SME”. Enquiries have ramped up from established SMEs run by mature management teams seeking to invest with the objective of enabling businesses growth. By integrating several existing IT systems (e.g. e-commerce, accounts, CRM, stock control) & reducing overheads through consolidation of suppliers, business process can be streamlined.

The outcome of this kind of investment is invariably positive. Here is an example of a real “Super SME”.

We have seen return on investments much smaller than £175K for companies with turnover £2-£20 mil… there are lower cost technology solutions available that will make a difference to the P&L. Money alone is not just the answer – mature business guidance is required. Tom Watson’s idea of using a Dragons Den type scenario is the best we’ve heard yet. Tom Watson MP joins most business owners calling for cash to drop into businesses, not Business Link. Until Tom can persuade the boss, the message for SMEs is clear: we’ve go to smarten up and take the plunge… Dash into your nearest phone box (or bank) and emerge with cape, tight pants on top of a tight Lycra suit… become a “Super SME”!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 9th, 2008 at 11:41 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.