University professors help Chinese and Indian SMEs to adopt Big Data and Internet of Things

Big Data are making big impact in large corporations, but Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are lagging behind their large counterparts in harnessing the Big Data’s huge value. Professor Yanqing Duan and Professor Ram Ramanathan in the Business and Management Research Institute (BMRI) are helping SMEs in China and Indian to embrace the emerging Big Data technologies.

Funded by BMRI’s Quality Research grant, Professor Duan and Professor Ramanathan organised workshops, focus group discussions and company visits in Madurai in India (April and July 2017) and in Yantai and Harbin in China (May 2018).

Researchers in BMRI have been very active in investigating and understanding the adoption and impact of Big Data and Analytics, especially the reasons on the lack of interests in Big Data among SMEs in developing countries. Insights gained from BMRI research team’s investigations show that lack of knowledge and understanding and lack of support are the major barriers to SME’s adoption of Big Data. To make Big Data work for SMEs, Professor Duan and Professor Ramanathan organised workshops and company visits to raise awareness among SMEs managers and to provide tailored expert advice based on individual company’s specific needs.

Over 30 SMEs from diverse business sectors including hi-tech Instruments company, aquaculture farming factories, social media content producer, interior design and renovation, jewellery company, granite manufacturer, car cleaning company, estate agent, etc. benefited from the project through workshops and company visits.

In their recent trip to China, BMRI professors, in collaboration with China Agricultural University and Harbin University of Commerce, organised two workshops in Yantai and Harbin, and visited five SMEs in Yantai. The project’s visit enabled the project team to gain invaluable insights into the current situations, challenges and opportunities regarding Big Data and IoT in SMEs. The university professors introduced the Big Data enabling technologies and their applications, demonstrated the benefits and opportunities using relevant case studies, and offered advice on how to adopt Big Data and IoT effectively to improve business operations and performance.

Feedback from beneficial SMEs were very positive and encouraging:

SMEs are working in isolation and don’t understand the benefits of using Big Data and Analytics. The workshop helps us to appreciate the advantages of Big Data and learn how to embrace the technology through collaboration with external experts and support.

We really appreciate the opportunity to attend the workshop. It is very timely and helpful.

We will certainly use what we have learned and think about how best we can effectively use Big Data and IoT in our company.

The workshops and company visits also provided a platform for BMRI professors to explore future collaborations in applying relevant grants to help SMEs in China and India.

Professor Duan said that “we are very excited with the opportunities working with researchers in China and be able to help Chinese SMEs. We will continue working with the companies participated in the project and follow their journey of transforming their business practice with the power of Big Data and IoT". Professor Ramanathan echoed similar views with SMEs both in China and India.