The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has partnered with a nongovernment organization (NGO) to upgrade small and medium enterprises’ (SMEs) know-how in information technology (IT). In a statement, the Trade department and Philippine National Information Technology Standards Foundation Inc. (PhilNITS) have tied up for a project dubbed “Training Enhancement for Competitiveness in Harnessing Innovative Entrepreneurs [TECHIE].”

Trade Undersecretary Merly Cruz, said “upgrading entrepreneurs’ IT skills will increase the efficiency of SMEs’ operations.”

DTI said the effective use of IT in businesses would address low productivity and high operating expenses, which hamper growth of SMEs.

“IT provides a cost- and time-efficient solution in addressing the said barriers,” it added.

TECHIE, which is funded by the government of Japan, has already been implemented in Davao and La Union, where about 1,000 entrepreneurs were trained. This program started in September this year and will run until June next year.

DTI said that based on a recent survey it conducted, few SMEs utilize business-relevant IT tools because of incompatibility of some IT tools for certain types of businesses; unavailability of IT skills, qualified personnel and network infrastructure; lack of affordable IT equipment and software; and lack of security and trust on the reliability of e-commerce systems.
Ben Arnold O. de Vera