The adoption of ICT is no longer a means of creating a sustainable competitive advantage, but an essential competitive weapon necessary for survival. In ascertaining the role and use of ICT as an enabler or otherwise of small firm growth ICT needs to be defined. A review of the literature and policy documents on this area present a range of terms which are frequently used in an interchangeable manner. It is further contested that this same terminology is a barrier to its adoption in the small firm as it creates confusion in the mind ofthe non technical entrepreneurs. The eBusiness Strategy Group (2004, p.9) defines eBusiness in the context of SME’s as“ …the application of information and communication technologies to business processes in all sectors of the economy to reduce costs, to improve customer value and to find new markets for products and services’".
Building a greater strategic awareness of ICT among female entrepreneurs ’ will help to integrate eBusiness strategies into the overall business (Department of Enterprise Trade and Employment, 2005). There is a distinction between ICT management skills and ICT user skills. Both are necessary if an owner/manager wants to make informed decisions on how to deploy technology in order to gain competitive advantage. Essentially ICT reflects how Information Technology is integrated into business functions for the exchange of information, buying and selling, promoting of products/services and the adoption of electronic business systems and processes in all stages of the input, process and output firm activities. In summary as described by Forfas (2000), “ICT is not just involving the use of Internet or email but information communication technologies throughout all businesses processes to create sustainable competitive advantage — essentially linking “back office processes to front end customer supports”. Research by the Small Business Forum (2006) suggests, the use and application of ICT in small firms overall is poor where entrepreneurs do not capitalise sufficiently on the benefits of ICT. Furthermore, this report endorsed the importance of increased usage of ICT by small firms and indicated that SMEs need to make better decisions about Information Communications Technology investment, to manage the ICT facilities they already have, and to make more and better use of these facilities to increase productivity. The Irish Central Statistics Office (CSO) published a report in 2007 containing statistics on how ICT is being used by small firms in Ireland. In summation, recent statistics by CSO (2007) indicates that the ICT infrastructure in Ireland is improving year on year, with broadband usage in SME’s at 68 per cent in 2007 up from 61 per cent in 2006. Further the report highlighted that SMEs in Ireland have good access to the Internet: 92 per cent of enterprises have Internet access and Ireland ranks 7th on this indicator (out of 21 countries). However of note is the fact that SMEs lag behind in terms of access to broadband connectivity in Ireland: 79 per cent of large enterprises have broadband, but this number falls to 40 per cent for medium sized enterprises and to 27 per cent for small enterprises. Within this broader technological infrastructure it is important to distinguish the factors that impact on the implementation of ICT in female operated businesses.