A framework for IOT adoption in small and medium enterprises

Abstract

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are an essential engine of the country’s economy. During the last decades, SMEs have adopted and implemented digital technologies. Adopting technological trends such as the Internet of Things is challenging for SMEs, considering their financial and technological limitations. This thesis aims to guide decision-making IoT adoption in small and medium enterprises by defining a Decision Support System (DSS) based on The Technology-Organization-Environment Model (TOE). The decision support system will assist decision-makers indicating their technology readiness level and providing recommendations that support the digital transformation process. This research uses a mixed
qualitative and quantitative approach to understand the factors influencing IoT adoption in SMEs. The Doctoral Thesis development was an enriching process that focused on providing a conceptual framework based on the TOE framework to understand the factors that affect IoT adoption in small and medium enterprises. Based on the conceptual framework Ready4IoT in SMEs, a decision support system named DSS Ready4IoT was developed, that according to the Software Usability Scale (SUS), has high usability. The DSS Ready4IoT’s purpose is to produce measurements that capture the particularities of SMEs in the trading sector to understand the adoption of digital technologies. Likewise, the Ready4IoT report can guide policymakers to design ICT policies focused on SMEs. In this way, technology
readiness in SMEs can increase by attending to the ICT sector evolution, creating an agile economy that adapts to technological change promoting innovation.

Date of Award	29 Jul 2022
Original language	American English
Supervisor	Cesar Dario Guerrero Santander (Supervisor)