Abstract
The rapid development of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) has been deeply modifying the business environment. However, while most of large companies invested time, money and human resources in order to modify their strategies and exploit the opportunities related to the business use of ICT, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) often lack the internal competencies needed to correctly comprehend these changes and to realize how to better exploit the related opportunities. Therefore, it is interesting to analyse the business use of ICT within SMEs in order to highlight the most effective strategic choices and future trends. This paper outlines the basic results of a research on this topics carried out by Cattaneo University (from the beginning of 2000 to April 2001) on a sample of about 200 SMEs.