The lack of ICT literacy is a major problem affecting all sectors of the economy. When business and technology are managed on two different tracks, companies spend a large part of their revenues on technology, and most of them are not satisfied with the return on their investment. Such expensive failures have led many observers to question whether ICT can ever produce a defensible long-term competitive advantage. While any business today should take full account of the impact of advances in ICT, the organization’s ICT strategy should be dominated by its business vision and strategic direction. Business principles, from which ICT implications can be drawn, should form the basis of the organization’s ICT policies and investment guidelines. One commonly used methodology is the ICT/Business Alignment Cycle, which introduces a simple framework that the ICT organization can adopt to manage a broad range of activities. The four phases of the cycle are: plan, model, manage, and measure.

Governments could assist by organizing capacity building workshops targeted to SMEs and focusing on the following:

• Ensuring that ICT investments focus on the real needs of the business
• Enabling more effective communication between business and ICT functions at a strategic level
• Ensuring that the ICT function plays an appropriate role in creating value within the business
• Establishing an Internet-based advisory or e-coaching service on advanced ICT solutions, ICT/business integration practices, establishment of virtual offices, and virtual business units.