How to survive as a small company in the IT-sector

Desired outcome

Uazo Tech is a small company in Cyprus specializing in developing custom software solutions, where commercial off-the-shelf software do not meet requirements. Over the last few years there was a great influx of foreign IT-companies in the island that has impacted our ability to engage with other companies/possible clients. Another problem was the market inflation that mainly impacted smaller companies.

Initial Problem Description

We would like to have an action plan on how to best compete with the bigger companies on the island. A step-by-step guide on which attributes of the company need to be adjusted and how in order to be able to be as competitive as the bigger companies since we believe our qualities are as strong. Additionally, help would be appreciated in identifying if there's a specific sector that we could work closer with (e.g. forex companies, auditing companies, companies in the health sector etc.)

Context

That above problem appeared approximately 3-4 years ago with the influx of russian, israeli and chinese IT-companies. We saw a decrease inthe companies interested in our services while our qualities and outreach never changed. When we tried to reach out to our previous clients to ask for feedback about their lack of interest, the response we got was that another company (usually with a well-known name) engaged them and they are now working with them.

Connection to cross-cutting areas

Our challenge best connects with the area of digitialisation as our line of work has mostly to do with software development and consulting in these sectors. Most of our clients engage us for a website, platform and/or app development, usually cypriot companies that used to work with word of mouth but now have to adjust to the technological advancements.

Input

We were not able to identify any trends, this is why we are asking for help. We know that money is not the main problem as many of these bigger companies do charge more than we do. A theory we have is that time might be a possible factor in the client's decision - we are a 3-people company and for a specific project we might need more time than a 20- or 100-people company.

Expectations

As mentioned above, we expect an action plan helping us to navigate through a growing market as a small IT-company. Other than that it would be good to have an overview of the market as seen from an external point of view - sometimes more eyes might catch something that is missing. At the end, we expect guidance, steps of action we can take.

Desired Team Profile

A background in computer science, IT, software development and other similar sectors we think it would be beneficial especially in understanding the struggles we face. We believe that there is definitely a business factor in our problem so skills in business administration, strategy and policy planning would help. Good understanding of the english language would be extremely important especially when it comes to communication with us.

Additional Information

Our main problem is based on the competitive situation in Cyprus - incoming foreign big companies taking the clientelle from the smaller local ones, leaving the smaller ones struggling to survive. We understand the importance of these companies to the local economy but it does hurt us. Because of this lack of interest and the market inflation it has been deemed impossible to hire new people in order to take on more complex clients.

Related Keywords

• Computer related
• Computer Software Market
• Systems software
• Applications software
• Software services