SMB Growth Potential Escalates For VARs

(Hollywood, FL) — With the breadth of SMB technology opportunities to choose from, how do you decide which make the most sense for you and your customers?  At the spring Gartner IT ChannelVision conference, several speakers focused on areas that VARs could, and should, be focusing on to achieve sales growth objectives and meet the changing needs of their clients. Some of the best potential technologies for solutions providers include wireless, VoIP (voice over Internet Protocol), BI (business intelligence), and virtualization.

While each of these technologies has become a part of everyday life for many enterprise customers, the SMB market segment is ripe for implementations of its own. That leaves two problems: cost and scalability. "SMBs want to pay for only what they need and leverage their current infrastructure as much as possible," says Joslyn Faust, principal research analyst at Gartner. That means it's wise not to suggest scrapping systems these customers already have in place, unless there is no other option. The solutions that incorporate existing infrastructure will be easier to sell than those that are more costly and intrusive.

Smaller businesses also want to use technologies and brands employees and the IT department (if they have one) are familiar with (e.g. Microsoft, HP, Cisco, IBM). Very few SMBs use Linux, Mac, or Google applications due to a lack of awareness, and in some cases, technical staff to support those products. "Small businesses want to adopt technologies that will demonstrate cost savings, such as VoIP, server virtualization, and managed services," says Faust.

Scrutinize Vendor Options 
With the growth of SMB technology sales, many vendors have developed solutions specifically for that market segment, not just scaled- down versions of enterprise products. For example, at IT ChannelVision, Buffalo Technologies demonstrated its new 3 TB NAS (network attached storage) devices for SOHO (small office/home office) and SMB implementations. With the increased demand for additional storage capacity, VARs can incorporate these products into a variety of solutions, from document imaging to multimedia applications.