IT tools in personnel training in small enterprises: results of Project “Apply” Available to Purchase

This paper describes the findings of an European four‐country study that attempted to pinpoint the practical impediments the small enterprises face when attempting to use information technology (IT) as an aid in their personnel training. The study was made using the Delphi technique, interviewing 120 specialists (company owners, software and IT producers, training providers) in four countries. The results suggest that most of the small companies are not yet ready to use the latest IT technologies in their personnel training, but there may be a “trickle‐down” effect from the bigger companies in some countries. The results furthermore suggest that the new IT solutions seldom deliver what they promise for the small companies. It seems that the significant impediments are the factors that the IT solutions were supposed to solve, namely freedom of time, space and pre‐described content. It seems that not many of the IT training solutions are developed with the small companies’ needs in sight, and a more close cooperation between the actors and tailoring of the IT products are often needed when planning this kind of training.