Create New Mobile Computing Revenue Opportunities

There's a popular saying in business, "If you can measure it, you can improve it.' That saying has become the motto for VAR Bizco Technologies, a company that offers the gamut of IT solutions, from network analysis and design to wireless mobile computing, VoIP (voice over Internet Protocol), disaster recovery, application hosting, and managed services. The facts that this 26-employee company generated $15 million in sales revenue last year and is projecting $2 million revenue growth this year are two good reasons to believe that Bizco has advice worth heeding. Selling customized WWAN (wireless WAN)-enabled mobile computing solutions is a big part of Bizco's differentiation strategy. President and CEO Paul Zoz also predicts that integrating his company's business applications will be a big differentiator.

Laptops with Wi-Fi connectivity have become the norm for Bizco's customers, which span just about every vertical market within the SMB market segment (e.g. education, healthcare, manufacturing, service, transportation). A couple of problems with Wi-Fi are that it's available in limited locations and it requires multiple users to share the same network, which creates potential security risks. The solution is to equip mobile workforces with WWAN connectivity through carriers such as AT&T, Sprint, or Verizon. Even though it might seem like there is no opportunity for a VAR to earn money by providing WWAN connectivity, Bizco's bottom line proves otherwise. "Some carriers offer free external modems [aka PC cards] with the purchase of a wireless data subscription," says Zoz. "However, once a customer learns about the value of an embedded wireless modem, which is less prone to failure if the laptop is dropped, and that it drains less battery power than an external modem, the customer is usually happy to make the $300 investment for the long-term benefits."