Improving SME ICT utilization through Industrial Attachment Program: Indonesia case

This paper reports the deployment of a group of students to several SME in an Industrial Attachment Program (IAP). The students were all engineering students who have previously attended courses conducted by Cisco Networking Academy and have passed certain computer networking certifications. The participating SME were those who are doing business in furniture and garment in the area of Jawa Tengah and Daerah Istimewa Yogyakarta, Indonesia. The primary goal of the IAP is to bridge the gap between students' technical ICT ability and SME' specific ICT needs. Through the IAP program, students got the opportunity to build the capacity through real time projects that integrate practical “IT essentials” skills into SME. The main students' activities were categorized into three areas, namely operational, business and technology, and strategic. These aspects were tailored according to the individual SME's needs. Each student had to prepare a work plan he/she started working at the assigned SME respectively. Before the end of the internship, each student had to produce a road map that shows the development of SME ICT utilization for 2 years to come. The complete road map was eligible to be submitted for a competition that the winner would be presented with a special prize.