Technological modernization and innovation of traditional agri-food companies based on ICT solutions

• Autor(a) principal: Gaspar, Pedro Dinis
• Data de Publicação: 2018
• Outros Autores: Soares, Vasco N.G.J., Caldeira, João, Andrade, Luís P., Soares, Cláudia D.
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.6/7409
• topic: ICT; Agri-food industry; Innovation; Survey; Case study

This paper assesses the potential for technological modernization and innovation based on Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in traditional agri-food companies located in the central region of Portugal. A survey was applied to 50 agri-food companies of Cereals, Cheese, Olive oil, Dry sausages, Honey, Wine, and Horticultural sectors. Survey results can be summarized as: The majority of companies use computers and have Internet service. Most of companies do not have a webpage and neither use Internet for advertising campaigns, selling or buying products. Half of companies use social networks for business purposes. Most companies have not promoted the training in ICT of their collaborators in the last year. Companies claim that possessing a webpage and attending ICT training will be the technological solutions that will improve their productivity and/or marketing products and services. For each sector, recommendations and suggestions were provided in order to promote the use of ICT for business purposes. The required ICT solution was developed to a limited set of companies. The main ICT-based solutions developed were company webpages and Facebook pages. A CRM system was developed for one company. A satisfaction survey was carried out at the end of the implementation of the ICT solution. Companies’ managers were highly satisfied with the ICT specific solution developed for its company and they affirmed that the company sales increased due to the web visibility gained by the company products.