A core theme of the WestFocus ICT network is to use the expertise of our network members – both academic and from industry – to assist small companies (SMEs) to make the best possible use of ICT to help run their businesses.

To form a solid basis for this goal, in the initial phase of the network, two projects set out to explore the challenges and opportunities that the use of different aspects of ICT holds for SMEs.

In the subsequent phase, beginning in Autumn 2006, the network developed these activities into two follow-on projects:

• Punch Above Your Weight - a program of workshops and information resources based on the findings of the ICT Adoption and Use in SMEs project designed to help small companies beef up their internet presence to make them look bigger and more impressive
• IT and organisational success in SMEs - an interactive program based on the User Centered System Design project exploring how understanding the ways in which ICT interacts with the organisational, social and business processes of SMEs can make it more or less useful in practice