SMEs don’t have to face the challenge of digital transformation and data enhancement alone. Public and private support is available. Here are three types of partner they can turn to, depending on their ambitions, but also on their digital maturity.
1. The third-party application developer
It’s the quickest and most affordable choice, as more and more developers are designing third-party applications to leverage data in a variety of industries. Trois-Rivières-based Progi, for example, has developed a software package that enables automotive recyclers to pool their data, including parts inventory, to optimize their operations.
In agriculture, Sollio Agriculture has developed the AgConnexion business intelligence platform for its affiliated producers. It includes the Lactascan application, a dashboard for dairy production analysis, and Aviscan, a tool for analyzing all breeding data and operating variables in poultry production.
The advantage of pooling data in this way is that it reduces the financial and technical investment required of each player involved. “It can be expensive to build your own decision-making tools on your own,” admits Daniel Chamberland-Tremblay, co-director of the Pôle de recherche en intelligence stratégique et multidimensionnelle d’entreprise (Prisme) at the Université de Sherbrooke. However, in his opinion, such pooling makes sense if companies are not in direct competition. In the case of parts locator ProgiCom, “the software enables recyclers in different regions to help each other”, says Alexandre Rocheleau, Marketing Manager at Progi.
Prisme’s co-director has a word of warning for SMEs. When you turn to an external supplier to add value to your data, you have to make sure you retain a minimum of control over it,” he points out. Otherwise, you can accumulate a technological debt.” Depending on the application, data is not always captured in a standard format, he explains. And the optimization algorithms used by the developer may be opaque, making it difficult to extract data for future use.
2. The consultant
SMEs with the ambition of adding value to their own data will undoubtedly need cutting-edge information technology (IT) expertise. “Depending on the sector of activity, and given the shortage of specialized labor, it’s unrealistic for an SME to try to hire all the IT resources it needs in-house,” says Daniel Chamberland-Tremblay. A hybrid recruitment approach is probably more appropriate, he suggests. It would make sense to use consultants for “high-level” resources, while developing the digital skills of your team in-house.
Many IT firms deploy management software packages such as CRM (customer relationship management) or ERP (enterprise resource planning). Those specializing in management can integrate data into a virtual “warehouse”, so that it can be leveraged with business intelligence tools such as Microsoft’s Power BI.
Other consultants, specialized in applied artificial intelligence, help companies deploy “mature and proven” solutions, as Hugues Foltz, Executive Vice President of Vooban, explained in a previous article. The most common example is the use of a “smart” camera system to carry out quality control on manufactured parts.
3. Universities and research centers
The most forward-thinking SMEs have an additional playground to explore: that of university research and innovation support organizations. Indeed, those who want to create a competitive advantage by using AI in their sector of activity often do so in partnership with researchers.
Université Laval’s Institut intelligence et données provides support to companies wishing to “exploit the full potential of their data or improve their capacity for innovation or their skills in relation to AI”, as stated on its website. Other universities have similar research hubs, including Prisme at the Université de Sherbrooke and the Institut de valorisation des données (IVADO), co-founded by HEC Montréal and Polytechnique Montréal.
For its part, the Centre de recherche informatique de Montréal (CRIM) supports companies in the development of a customized artificial intelligence solution. “We help them bridge the gap between their intuition that AI can help them and an application that works in the real world, as well as in a business context,” explains its CEO, Françoys Labonté.
He cites the success story of UEAT, a Quebec City-based start-up recently acquired by Ontario-based financial technology company Moneris. UEAT received help from CRIM to develop a contextual food recommendation engine for independent restaurants. “The result has been spectacular: total sales have multiplied five to six times since customers began receiving these recommendations.”
* Article published in the Cybersécurité des PME section of Les Affaires newspaper