abstract
- One of the components of the success of modern economic systems of any level and scale is the use of the latest information and communication technologies (ICT). The use of technology allows the increase in the efficiency of the production process and conduct the business to a completely new level. The main objective of this research is to assess the state of ICT in small and medium-sized enterprises, and the possibility of using Big data technologies for analyzing and making forecasts for improving economic performance. The research of the use of ICT were carried out on the example of small and medium enterprises (SME) in rural areas of three countries: Alto Trás-os-Montes (Portugal), Castela e Leão (Spain) and Krasnodar (Russia). The goals of the work are to conduct a comparative description of the selected areas, to determine the level of the current state of ICT, to bring proposals for improving this level. The main conclusion is that although the objects of research are at a different level of economic development, they have similar experimental data, and the proposed improvement proposals may be useful for each of them.