Challenges for Deploying Web Services-Based E-Business Systems in SMEs

E-business initiative in many companies had started in the 1990s. These companies have recently begun to explore the use of Web Services (WS) technologies within their e-business context, since they provide an attractive, language-neutral, environment-neutral programming model that accelerates application development and integration inside and outside the enterprise. Despite these advantages, companies are slow to deploy WS because it requires a considerable shift in their application development process. While a few studies have reported on some of the reasons for this wait-and-see approach, a thorough and systematic investigation of the challenges from the stakeholders’ — providers, consumers, and standards organizations — perspective is needed. This study addresses that and provides a framework for studying the factors that impact the deployment and use of WS. The framework is used to analyze small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), as they play a vital role in generating employment opportunity and turnover within many major economies globally.