Decision making for IT service selection in Swedish SMEs : A study with focus on Swedish Small and Medium Sized Enterprises

Abstract: Problem There is a lack of knowledge about how Swedish SMEs make decisions on IT service selection. There is also lack of information about the attributes of IT service providers that are most important to Swedish SMEs. By discovering these attributes, IT service providers could focus on improving their services in those dimensions and become more attractive for Swedish small and medium enterprises. Purpose The purpose of this research is to investigate the decision making process over selection of IT services for small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in Sweden. Additionally, this research intends to discover the most important features (attributes) of an IT service provider in its selection. What are the steps involved in decision-making process? What decision-making methods can be used to help explain the process that goes on in the minds of the decision makers? What aspects influence their behaviour when decision makers prefer one service provider to another? IT service comprises of internet-based services such as web hosting, email services, online backup services and cloud apps or locally offered IT services such as IT helpdesk. The candidates who were interviewed were employees or entrepreneurs who work and live in Sweden. Method This research was conducted with an inductive approach using mono method for semi-structured interviews for primary data collection. Secondary data collection was multiple-source through literature reviews in order to learn about different attributes and current knowledge about this subject. The research method was qualitative with exploratory strategy in order to get insights into managers’ decision-making processes. Sampling was non-probability purposive method with sample size as saturation method. The focus was illustrative and method chosen as typical case. Conclusion The conclusions of this thesis illustrates that the important attributes (features) of IT services required by Swedish SMEs are the requirement that the service is being offered from Sweden, due to tax conformity laws and security matters. Moreover, SAT, WADD, FRQ and EBA are decision-making heuristics in use by the companies in selection of suitable IT services.