Their lackadaisical approach in this area is clearly indicated by the low uptake of government incentives such as the HumanResource Development Fund (HRDF), which provides 100 per cent rebate for training employees.

These employers, says Wilson Wong, managing director of Wordware Distributor (M) Sdn Bhd, simply fail to see the long-term benefits and cost savings of having a skilled ICT workforce.

As the country becomes more ICT-reliant, SMEs need to relook their attitude towards ICT training if they want to stay ahead of the growing competition inside and outside of the country, he adds.

According to Wong, most employees use only 10 to 20 per cent of the software capability in their computers. If they were trained how to maximise usage, they would be able to complete tasks quicker, take on more work and be more productive, he says.

He points out that an independent study on Microsoft Office Specialist revealed that 87 per cent of employers observed increased competency in their MOS-certified employees, 82 per cent of employers believed MOS directly benefited their organisation, and 67 per cent of employers felt MOS simplified hiring and advancement decisions.

At the same time, he adds, employees with ICT skills feel more confident and are able to execute their job functions more efficiently, thus leading to greater productivity for the companies they work for.

Besides stepping up efforts to provide ICT training to all staff, Wong says employers who are not certain about the cost-effectiveness of training can put in place a system to gauge their staff's performance before and after training.

This, he adds, will help them monitor and measure the benefits and value of ICT training.

Sharing Wong's view is Sally Hew, executive director of InfoTrek Sdn Bhd, who says SMEs in general are not committed to providing ICT training.

The belief of ``making do without ICT training'' is rampant among these operators, she says, and they must be made aware of the long-term consequences of having untrained manpower.

Hew believes that SMEs need to realise how ICT systems could help them in their day-to-day work, and that well-trained staff not only helps improve productivity but also reduce system implementation and maintenance costs.

''Most employees execute tasks without having any basic ICT skills,'' she says. ``Employers go by with staff who have picked up knowledge on how to use a particular software or hardware on their own. They fail to understand that with training these staff could perform better, and also have the ability to maintain and fix a simple computer or software failure.''

It's pertinent for every office to have employers who understand user requirements, technology limitations and in-house operations, she continues.

Besides that, employers must understand that there is no need for their staff to become computer experts, but optimising each computing minute spent at work is a necessity, says Nicky Sham, consultant and trainer at M&M Edutrain.

She stresses that training on how to use efficiently and securely computer hardware, software, networking infrastructure and the Internet is essential.

According to Sham, computer maintenance and troubleshooting skills are gravely lacking among staff in small business operations, and these employers have to spend thousands of ringgit yearly employing vendors to manage simple maintenance functions.

''Small businesses should train their system maintenance staff to the extent that they are able to manage, solve and contain minor computer problems relating to staff computers, hardware and system failures,'' Sham elaborates, and that ``vendors or consultants should only be hired when bigger problems arise. It is surely going to be more cost-effective if internal staff get trained in maintaining their systems.''

She suggests that in a small office environment, at least two people be trained to maintain the company systems. And in a networked environment, she recommends that employers ensure that their staff are sent for basic networking training to gather enough knowledge to manage the environment.

Basic Internet skills, Sham says, have also become essential in an office environment. For companies that have their own Web sites, training employees in Web site design, copywriting and image manipulation is a more effective solution than outsourcing whenever a modification to the site is required, she adds.