Panelists at the CNETAsia roundtable.

Instead, think about how to use technology to drive business innovation. It's just a subtle rearrangement of words, but the difference in meaning is profound.

"IT is the enabler, IT cannot be the objective itself," said Eugene Rim, CEO of Accord Express Holdings, summing up the thoughts of panelists at the CNETAsia SMB roundtable in September.

Held at the Fullerton Hotel in Singapore, the event was attended by eight business owners from various industries, from retail to logistics, who gathered to talk about IT and its relationship to innovation.

Rim's comment was especially poignant, coming from a company so prominent in its use of IT. Using its in-house supply-chain management solution, Accord Integrated Logistics Information System (AILIS), the company has multiplied its revenues over the last five years. Employee name cards have the words "technology-driven logistics solutions" printed on them.

Edwin Yeo, managing director of headhunting firm Rubicon International Talent Exchange, echoed Rim's views.

"We will not adopt IT per se. I don't love IT. IT is a tool for me," he said. "My business is not to innovate IT. It's the reverse. I need to do innovation, and use IT to support my innovation."

They pointed out that business owners and employees should not forget the reasons for using technology, be it cutting costs, adding value for customers, or improving efficiency.

"We have to go back to basics. Why do we use IT?" asked Rim. He recalled an incident where he noticed one of his staff sending an e-mail to a colleague in the adjacent cubicle.

"So I told them: Don't send e-mail. You can talk faster," he recalled.

One classic example of overplaying technology and neglecting business concerns would be the dot-com companies, suggested Cyril Teo, general manager of Halley's Express, a delivery firm.

He revealed that he had been approached many times during the dot-com boom to partner in the delivery of goods. But in Singapore, where shops were sometimes just "two blocks away", he said, the conditions were just not right for the concept to take off.

Inventing ideas