In 2008 the Ministry of Education in New Zealand funded a project titled Using e-learning to build workforce capability (Clayton, Elliott, Saravani, Greene & Huntington, 2008). During the project the team recognised the benefits of identifying those critical success factors (CSFs) a small or medium enterprise (SMEs; those with less than 100 employees) needed to address to ensure e-learning initiatives were implemented effectively and efficiently. Five critical success factors are identified, described and illustrated.