Government Promotion of E-Commerce in SMEs: The Australian Government's ITOL Program

Abstract

As in many other countries, the take-up rate of e-commerce in Australian SMEs has been poor. The Australian Government has attempted to address this (in part) through its “Information Technology On-Line” (ITOL) program — a program that aims to accelerate the adoption of e-commerce through the provision of seed funding to on-line projects proposed by industry-based consortia. Some 81 projects have been funded so far and, in this paper, we review progress to date. While there have been some outstandingly successful projects, others have floundered. Provision of adequate project resources, together with effective change and relationship management, were identified as key critical success factors.