THE number of small and medium-sized enterprises using computer software to improve their businesses is increasing, software developers said last week.

“More business owners are becoming aware of how to use information and communication technology to advance their businesses,” said U Tun Thura Thet, the managing director of the Myanmar Information Technology Pte, Ltd, one of the country’s leading software development companies.

He said the fact that software developers have targeted smaller business enterprises has also contributed to the gradual rise in software usage that began early last year.

At the same time software use among big businesses has declined owing to financial problems that have developed during the past year, he said.

“Big enterprises like banks and supermarkets usually use software to manage their businesses, but financial problems have hindered expansion, which in turn has negatively affected the big-business software industry,” U Tun Thura said.

The country’s software industry began booming with the establishment of MICT Park in Hlaing township, Yangon, in February 2002.

Financial problems have slowed the software industry but have not stopped its growth, he said.

U Tun Thura Thet urged software developers to strive to break into the international market to help the industry develop.

“Myanmar software must meet the high demands of the international market to gain a foothold in the industry,” he said.

Myanmar Information Technology will take its first step into the international market when it opens its Singapore division in late June.

U Tun Thura Thet said the company began preparing to enter the international market two years ago by developing software focusing on business resource planning and customer relations management systems.

He is optimistic about the prospects of international success for Myanmar software, as its price will be lower than that of more well known products on the market.

“Our best strategy is to make products that are cheaper but of the same quality as those in the market,” U Tun Thura Thet said.

Daw Khin Aye Win, the director of the Myanmar World Distribution Co., Ltd, said her company is more interested in focusing on the local market.

She has also noticed an increase in software use among small and medium enterprises in Myanmar.

The successful use of software by smaller businesses in Yangon and Mandalay has attracted new customers from other parts of the country, especially Magwe, Sagaing and Tanintharyi divisions, and Mon and Shan states, she said.

She said software developers must provide additional customer support – such as teaching basic computer and accounting skills – to these new businesses because computer literacy rates are lower outside Yangon and Mandalay. Daw Khin Aye Win said the country’s software industry is still growing but not as quickly as three years ago.

However, she said she believed growing public awareness of the ICT sector would soon fuel another boom.