The beginning of a New Year provides an opportunity to reflect. In the recent past, the role that information technology (“IT”) plays within the market place has been significantly elevated. The days when “IT” was perceived to be a glorified way to post to accounting has become a distant memory! Today, “IT” systems are recognized as one of the most important strategic assets a business can possess. When used wisely, “IT” systems allow companies to expand markets, implement creative solutions for customers, and gain competitive advantage.

Importantly, “IT” produces the information needed to help managers make better decisions. Key performance indicators (KPIs) measure the things that matter most to the organization’s success; an astute analysis of the data provides insight into the strategies and tactics that result in long-term success. Simply put, “IT” is the core asset that helps decision makers more effectively manage all of the other assets within the organization.

If you were a large corporate entity in today’s technology-driven marketplace, your VP of “IT” would probably be an executive board member where she or he would be expected to make a major contribution to the corporate strategy. The responsibility of the VP would be to determine how “IT” can be used to solve the corporation’s unique business problems. This role is vital to the ongoing success of any company in today’s competitive environment.

E&A’s marketplace is the SMB (Small/Medium Business) sector. While our customers may not be fortune 1000 organizations, the role of technology and the business issues our clients face in the marketplace are no different from large corporations. Of course, the main difference is that in place of the VP of “IT” and the large department of consultants, programmers and analysts that perform this kind of work in a large corporate setting, SMB customers rely on companies like E&A for these services.

In fact, hundreds of SMBs look to E&A as their primary source of “IT” solutions. Even for the small group of E&A customers who might have some “IT” personnel on staff, E&A remains their source for many vital services. E&A understands how our customer’s challenges can be solved with technology. E&A not only understands the business applications, but through our close relationship with Infor we have gained insight into technology’s future direction and what it means to our customers. Whatever knowledge that might be lacking among any given individual on the E&A staff is overwhelmingly made up for by the collective knowledge of our team. That’s what makes E&A so compelling for many SMBs today.

If you are still viewing your “IT” as a necessary evil instead of a competitive opportunity, you are doing a disservice to yourself and your business!

This New Year, I encourage you to explore how E&A can play a more active supporting role in your company’s planning and problem-solving processes. Allow us to work with you so that we can apply our wide-ranging business and technical experience to the task of helping your business grow and be more profitable.