SMEs to get govt white knight
in brief Senator Kate Lundy yesterday announced that the government would create an IT supplier advocate to improve business relationships with small to medium local businesses.
Senator Kate Lundy
(Canberra Multicultural Festival
image by Kate Lundy, CC2.0)
The advocate will work as a broker and spokesperson for small to medium enterprises to ensure that they have equal footing in competing for government contracts, Labor Senator Kate Lundy said in her speech at the CeBIT technology trade show in Hannover, Germany.
"With multinational enterprises and government chief information officers often hesitant to undertake business with small- to medium-sized businesses due to perceptions of risk, the IT supplier advocate will work with parties to mitigate these often unfounded perceptions of risk associated with contracting a small business," she said.
The advocate would be appointed as part of Innovation Minister Kim Carr's supplier advocates initiative, according to Lundy.