National SMEs represent a very important contribution to the economic development of the country, so we must be aware of the way in which these companies seek competitiveness in an increasingly open and global market. Survival in an increasingly demanding market is causing companies to look for ways to stay afloat, and a DSS represents precisely a lifeline for these companies.
The expected benefits of implementing a DSS range from cost savings to customer satisfaction, but the main problem is that SME entrepreneurs do not know this. The requirements for the implementation of a DSS in an SME are not more complex than the initiative of the entrepreneur and many decisions to make, with this we realize that DSS is a technology that is available to SMEs.
Introduction
Today we can find a large number of definitions about what SMEs (small and medium-sized companies) are, but for purposes of simplification in this work we will consider as an SME that depending on its business and its number of employees is classified as small or medium according to the following table:
| Size of the company | Industry | Commerce | Services |
| Little | 1-30 | 1-5 | 1-20 |
| Median | 31-100 | 6-20 | 21-50 |
| Big | 101 + | 21+ | 51+ |
SMEs in Mexico, which employ 78% of the economically active population and contribute 68% to GDP, represent a very important contribution to the economic development of the country, that is why we should be concerned about how to develop a strategy that allows them overcome the myriad of risks and obstacles faced in a globalized economy. The present work seeks to clearly present how information technologies that we consider so advanced and / or expensive, specifically decision support systems (DSS), are available to small and medium-sized companies and are an essential part of this survival strategy. (Vázquez, 2003)
Development
Regularly, the ideal way in which the decision-making process should be carried out in SMEs would be as follows (Emily, 2002):
- Determine the need for the decision, define the reasons that led us to the current situation and why it is necessary to make a decision to fix it Identify the decision criteria, that is, have a knowledge of which variables will come into play when making our decision.Assign weight to the criteria, once the variables are defined we go on to determine which of them are most important to us and we wonder why. To develop all the alternatives, all the possible scenarios that present a possible solution to the problem must be generated. It is presented to us Evaluate the alternatives, each of the alternatives or scenarios that were developed in the previous step must be critically evaluated Select the best alternative (make the decision),Being totally objective and logical, the best alternative is selected for the specific situation that is presented to us.
A decision-making support system has the primary objective of supporting this process in at least the last 5 steps, that is, systems of this type allow and promote the manipulation of data in order to be able to relate them to different criteria and present this information in such a way that it allows to quickly visualize trends, positions and locations with respect to an original planning, in order to have the elements to make a decision (Bañuelos, 2001).
In a company there are basically three levels of administration (operational, tactical and strategic), each level has particular information needs, so the support system for decision making must be designed in such a way that it meets the needs of the three levels. Below is a graph that explains this behavior. (Anonymous, 2001)
Figure. one
The need to implement a DSS, no matter how complex or simple it may be, in an SME grows day by day. With the inevitable economic opening of our country, the market has undergone a great transformation, companies demand more quality from suppliers, higher quality and speed in services and with the lowest cost, therefore it is required that decisions be made in a manner faster and more accurate (Vázquez, 2003). The destiny of a company is shaped based on the decisions made by the administrator and what better way to ensure a promising future than with a decision support tool as powerful as a DSS.
The benefits that are expected to be obtained by an SME when implementing a DSS are not directly related to its size, that is, the benefits for an SME are the same as for a large company. Some of the benefits that emerged from a survey conducted in more than 200 North American organizations are listed below (Rivera, 2001):
- High quality decision-making Greater communication Cost reduction Greater productivity Time savings Customer and employee satisfaction
All of the above sounds very logical and it could even be said that any administrator could carry it out using their common sense, but our SMEs face great barriers that prevent them from being able to implement DSS in order to be more competitive and stay alive. The main of these barriers is undoubtedly the lack of information that SME managers have, most of whom have more good intentions than preparation for running a business. Resistance to change is another of these barriers that is required to be overcome by SMEs, since the implementation of a DSS requires radical changes in the processes carried out in the company, from the administrator when making the decision,to the operatives who will be in charge of accumulating the information with which the DSS will be fed.
After having talked about what a DSS is, its benefits, the need for its use and the possible barriers to its implementation within an SME, it remains for me to talk about the requirements for the development and implementation of a DSS within a company of this type, so that managers can realize that a decision support system is within their grasp and is not a utopia out of a business book. These requirements are listed below:
- Availability of the administrator Have historical and present information on operations A professional IT advisor and aware of the business A database administrator system An information system that processes data from databases and displays the information required for decision making An investment in development or purchase of the system and important decisions to make
As we can see, these requirements are not so far-fetched and I could say that all SMEs have them. The point that could be of most concern is the investment that has to be made, but it must be taken into account that the size of this investment will be in accordance with the requirements for help in decision-making and how complex the system is.
Conclusions
Today's administrators face an unimaginable number of challenges, but one of the most demanding for organizations is decision-making. The modern manager must be aware of the importance of the decisions he makes today for the future of the company. Let us remember that "today's problems are consequences of the bad decisions of the past" (Chong et al., 2003). The support that information systems offer to this decision-making process is very important, if not essential, hence the importance of DSS in SMEs.
Currently, SMEs find great support from the government through the Ministry of Economy, support that translates into training and advice to the administrators of this type of business. The main problem here is the lack of dissemination of these support combined with the lack of updating and lack of information that most SME entrepreneurs have. The government has already realized this and seeks to reduce in a certain way the digital divide that is becoming increasingly wide between SMEs and large corporations so that SMEs have a correct use of information technologies as happens with their similar in developed countries.
There are a large number of products on the market that can be used as DSS and that are available to SMEs. A simple Microsoft Excel ™ sheet with the data and the appropriate formulas could well be used as a DSS, but if what you want is something a little more formal, you can think of a solution such as the Exión ™ package from the Computing in Action company that in addition to controlling inventory, expenses and collection among other things, offers reports on all areas of the company which greatly assists in decision making and at a fairly accessible price. Another package that is accessible to companies is the comprehensive solution sold by the Aspel company, which can be purchased by modules depending on the needs of the company.
SMEs should take advantage of their main advantage over large corporations, which is flexibility, largely due to their size, and realize that the implementation of a DSS or any other information system is more viable in this type of company than in large companies.. The competitiveness given by the fact of being updated in the use of information systems and in making quality decisions on time, will allow SMEs to survive an increasingly open and hard market at the same time.
SMEs should not be so concerned about the arrival of large multinationals, but about the arrival of products and services from foreign SMEs that if they knew how to adapt to the conditions offered by the market thanks to the widespread use of information systems. Let us therefore hope that our national SMEs are not only competitive in the local market, but that they are capable of going out to fight as equals to foreign markets.
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