Implementing Disruptive Technologies

In helping new and prospective business owners and entrepreneurs, I think the Small Business Development Center could have really been a far more effective organization had we implemented some of the disruptive technologies discussed in class. Since we have to pick one, I will discuss the advantages already seen and possible future advantages to be gained through the implementation of cloud computing technologies. In fact, I'd almost go so far as to say that the SBDC needs cloud computing in order to survive.

The national network of SBDC's is really made up of individual economic development entities in nearly every county in the country. In the past, each office maintained an extremely small IT department; usually consisting of only one or two individuals. These individuals would then be responsible for coordinating common office technologies and communications.

During my time there, I noticed many problems and inefficiencies in this system. The underlying issue was twofold: the true power of each local office to assist its clients comes from its ability to utilize its massive national resource network; additionally each SBDC office is technically some sort of entity/arm of its local government. This meant that the few systems connecting these offices were hardly homogenous, and often greatly hindered communication. Furthermore, there was no easy way to implement a homogenous network with a dedicated universal support staff as each SBDC is funded separately.

Cloud computing really seems to be the only solution to this problem. In fact, the only real homogenous system currently in place on a national level is the client database. By moving as much IT as possible to the cloud, the SBDC could finally become a homogenous organization. A good example of this has to do with government contracting. Government contractors represented a major segment of Maryland's SBDC clients. In many situations, these contractors either need to coordinate with contractors in other states or at least need to apply for various requirements in other jurisdictions. Currently, this means that each office must prepare a mountain of paperwork describing the specific needs of the contractor, and send it to the SBDC in the other jurisdiction where the research is basically repeated. This cycle of inefficiency often continues for several days or even weeks. Moving each office's local resources to a cloud-based system would centralize and standardize all of this information, making it equally accessible from any office.

Additionally, these offices could benefit from a cloud-based email service. Since each office is a branch of local government, the email addresses for individuals working at different offices are vastly different; often to the point that new contacts from other national offices are often blocked by spam blockers. Having a cloud-based email and/or other communication system would improve communications tremendously.

Finally, and probably most importantly, cloud-based systems are financially feasible for this organization. Each office would simply have to allocate part of its budget to 'buy-in' to the system. This would eliminate the red tape currently imposed by differing local governments.