EVERYONE is talking about how IT can be aligned with business growth. No one, however, is really talking about how small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) can do this.

According to AMI Partners, small and medium companies in the Asia-Pacific region are growing at an annual revenue growth of up to 12 per cent. This suggests a healthy business climate. If you are a growing SMB today, you are faced with opportunities to expand globally, increase market share and expand and improve product lines.

These business imperatives are, in turn, driving expanded business processes. Global expansion, for instance, will require a robust back-end solution to be present.

Certain automation processes would also have to be put in place. Along with this, IT needs are being increased. These could be ranging from basic computing needs to more sophisticated IT solutions. However, knowing what is needed or what the components for business growth are, is no longer enough. And this is where the challenge lies.

What does business expansion really mean? In some cases, it means the move to Internet-based processes such as online transaction management or integration into global supply chains.

As business scales up, a key trend to note is the increase in data and transactions. Customers also become more demanding. Fast and accurate delivery of goods and services have become an accepted part of normal business.

You can no longer use excuses like the option of lower costs or a small team as an excuse for the lack of service because in the global economy, there is always someone who can offer goods and services at a lower cost and better quality than you do.

For a small but rapidly growing company to compete in the global environment, getting the right tools is extremely essential. Companies need to have faster connectivity and a secure infrastructure - and this will include broadband, security software, servers and high-capacity and manageable storage.

At the end of the day, survival is the name of the game, so the ability to adapt to a globally competitive environment will differentiate you and help you survive.

For a growing business, information storage usually grows in three stages. In the initial stages of company growth, companies tend to invest in PC-attached storage.

This will include hardware like hard disk drives, zip drives and DVDs. This solves your immediate data storage issues and when your company is smaller, allows you to manage information quickly.

As you grow, however, and you begin to have distributed or mobile teams, you will begin to need some network connectivity. From e-mail to presentations to sales orders, the kind of information that you need to keep your business running starts to pile up.

Most companies deal with this by buying storage as and when they need to. This results with data being scattered throughout the organisation on distributed PCs, servers and others. This is where you need not just basic storage but also network connectivity and information management software.

Then - and this is where you are on the cusp on becoming a large enterprise and you are looking to the future when you will need funding - you will need storage that meets global compliance regulations and archiving. This is where companies like yours need a solution that is simple, affordable and capable of helping you now and as you continue to grow.

Such a storage system should be able to take the data that you have scattered all over the company and consolidate it in a quick and easy-to-access manner.

It should fit perfectly into companies like yours which are looking for simple-to-manage, "service- less" products that work seamlessly with your operating system or platform. Look also for a wizard interface, failure-proof technology and built-in data protection software, features that will make life simpler for you as an IT administrator.

Many companies have been distracted by the issues of building basic infrastructure, taking their eye off the ball of growing the business.

Whatever the technology solution you choose, the end result should always make your business simpler - for you as a business owner and for your employees. Simple, affordable and capable solutions are integral to enabling you to grow your business.

The writer is general manager, Asean, Hitachi Data Systems