SMB

AllBusiness.com, Inc., a leading online resource for businesses, has announced the results of its 2007 year-end “SMB State of the Union Study” and SMB Barometer. The study found 74 percent of small and mid-size business (SMB) leaders list search engines as their top source for business information to help them run their company.

The study also found 63 percent of SMB leaders will be turning to search engines even more going into the New Year. While “word of mouth” is still a solid source of information at 71 percent, this marks the first time in the “SMB State of the Union” study history that search was cited as the top source.

Overall business sentiment among SMBs is positive

For the third straight year-end forecast, SMBs are generally optimistic about their business outlook for the coming year and say the falling value of the dollar is their most important economic concern. Other findings focused on SMB outlook included:

• 55 percent of small business leaders planned to hold a holiday party while
• 38 percent of small businesses did not. One recent survey of bigger businesses indicated that 85 percent of companies hosted a holiday party this year.

• 30 percent of small business leaders were planning on giving year-end bonuses and 33 percent were not.
• 60 percent of small business leaders are concerned about the falling value of the dollar while 23 percent are primarily concerned about immigration.
• 78 Percent of small businesses took green measures this past year; recycling paper and trash were the most common measure.
  Overall, 73 percent of small business leaders are optimistic going into 2008 dipping slightly from 75 percent in 2006 and 79 percent in 2005.
  “We have been tracking the search habits of SMB decision makers since the launch of our Web site, and we’re excited to report that search is now their dominant source of business information. This indicates how deeply seated the Internet is as a primary business tool. Search is where they start the research process and increasingly, search is where they find the best answers,” says Kathy Yates, CEO of AllBusiness.com.

  “Given so many pessimistic forecasts about interest rates, the housing sector, oil prices and a potential recession, we’re also gratified to see a dose of optimism within the SMB community heading into 2008,” Yates added.

  SMB Barometer stays steady and growth oriented

  Launched near the end of 2005, AllBusiness.com’s SMB Barometer provides a numerical figure that measures overall SMB health by reflecting the combined values of five components, including staffing plans, business real estate trends, business branch plans, technology investment and overall business outlook. The barometer reading is currently at 63, the same that was reported fourth Quarter last year signaling continued optimism.

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In an exclusive interview with CIOL, E R Ashok Kumar, Director - SMB, Nortel India talks about SMB customers leaning towards experimenting with changes to technology solutions.
Excerpts from an interview:

CIOL: How has the SMB market been adopting new technology solutions?
Ashok Kumar: We see the small and medium business (SMB) customers adapting to and embracing IP telephony. There has been a distinct shift from viewing IP telephony as a 'nice to have' to a 'must have' solution. Nortel has also seen SMB customers leaning towards experimenting with changes to technology solutions. They also wish to adapt to the changing technology to be ahead of their competition.

Rajeev Mittal, Group Director-Small and Medium Enterprise, Microsoft India elaborates on the various offerings from Microsoft to Indian SMBs.
Excerpts:

CIOL: A brief note on the Microsoft's offerings to the SMB market. Of the various products, which of them have the highest reach among SMBs?
Rajeev Mittal: The unique value proposition of Microsoft's products lies not only in their familiarity and ease of use, but also in their ability to customize easily and cater to specific needs of different business verticals or segments. While the last mile of customization is delivered through our extensive partner network in India, Microsoft also offers products tailored for the small and medium businesses (SMBs), which is an important segment for us.

Mid market segment products include:

• 2007 Microsoft Office System - helps organizations work efficiently and effectively with a new set of powerful tools for creating, managing, analyzing and sharing information.

• Windows Server 2003 R2 - helps businesses to increase effectiveness of computing operations while reducing IT costs. New features simplify and improve branch server management, storage management, and identity and access management.
• Exchange Server 2007 - designed to meet the messaging and collaboration needs of SMBs. It may also be appropriate for specific server roles or branch offices.
• SQL Server 2005 - An affordable option for both small and medium-sized organizations that includes the core functionality needed for non-critical e-commerce, data warehousing, and line-of-business solutions. It is optimized to run on win32, x64, and Itanium-based servers
• Microsoft Forefront for Exchange Server- includes multiple scan engines from industry-leading security firms integrated in a single solution to help businesses protect their Exchange messaging environments from viruses, worms, and spam

  Microsoft offers the following additional products catering to the unique requirements of small businesses

• Windows Small Business Server 2003 R2 - a complete and affordable network solution that provides small businesses with many of the features used by large companies in a single package. It keeps data more secure and protects business information, while maximizing employee productivity and enhancing customer communications.
• Windows Vista Business - the first Windows operating system designed specifically to meet the needs of small and mid market businesses. It helps businesses work more effectively, stay connected (both in and out of the office), and better protect key information.
• Microsoft Dynamics - Microsoft's line of business management solutions is a solution that has been built grounds up for SMB customers and helps streamline financial, customer relationship and supply chain management. The Dynamics range offers the broadest product line-up for this segment including CRM, financial management (also called ERP), SCM and vertical solutions that offer customers great technology solutions that are integrated with Microsoft's productivity and platform applications.

CIOL: What percentage of growth has Microsoft witnessed in marketing its products to the SMB segment?
RM: Microsoft has been one of the first companies to start focusing on SMBs and developing solutions for them. This focused approach towards the SMB segment over the past five years is paying us rich dividends due to our deep understanding of the needs of this fast growing and rapidly evolving market. Today the SMB segment contributes a significant portion of our revenues and is one of the fastest growing divisions for Microsoft in India.

CIOL: What are the factors that are driving customers to deploy your products?
RM: Microsoft's success with its customers is the result of our deep understanding of the needs of the small and mid-size businesses, and based on this understanding the development of best of breed products, ranging from the Microsoft Operating System to ERP solutions. Moreover we also offer products and solutions which have been specially designed for the SMB segment. These include Windows Small Business Server 2003 R2 and Vista that has been launched recently. It offers several editions for different customer segments. Moreover Microsoft products bring to the table ease of use, familiarity as well as a lower total cost of ownership.

Our products are taken to discerning customers through our 3,500 strong partner network. They enable the last mile of both horizontal as well as vertical functionality and deliver the final customer experience. Our partners work with customers to ensure that from among the wide options available from Microsoft they adopt the technology/ solutions most suited to their business to make them globally competitive

CIOL: In your view, how is the scene as regards IT implementation among SMBs, who were hitherto refraining from spending on IT infrastructure?
RM: According to a recent AMI Partners report, IT penetration among the SMBs was very low and their IT spend in the past have been less than two per cent of their turnover. But now as they align businesses to global needs, they are looking at IT solutions for an array of applications. SMBs are increasingly viewing IT as an essential strategic tool for their business instead of just another technology investment.
We have also recently announced the availability of our Dynamics Suite of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) applications as a subscription service, which allows businesses to use these solutions without the need to install it within the company's own premise on a pay as you go model. Microsoft believes that this new offering will allow a much larger set of SMBs in India to adopt and benefit from ERP services.

CIOL: Any new products in the pipeline targeted exclusively at the SMBs?
RM: Microsoft aims to bring the best of breed products to its consumers. In this regard we hope to bring out the next version of the Small Business Server in the next few months for our customers. We have also brought our ERP solutions as a hosted service especially for our SMB customers and hope to be able to make more of our solutions available as a hosted service in the near future.

CIOL: Elaborate on Microsoft's business strategies and expansion plans with regard to SMBs?
RM: Along with the innovative products that Microsoft brings to its customers, we are also constantly striving to look at ways in which we can best reach out to our customers. In this regard Microsoft has recently expanded its presence to five more cities and hoping to add one more.
The cities include Ahmedabad, Nagpur, Indore, Chandigarh and Kochi with Coimbatore being in the pipeline. With its direct presence, Microsoft will enable the SMBs in the region to easily access a complete portfolio of its products and services and enhanced support from both Microsoft and its partners.

Microsoft has launched a program called project VIKAS to help the Indian SME sector address its 'soft' challenges and gear up to effectively face global competition. It is hoped that this program will not only enhance efficiency and competitiveness, but make the job sector more vibrant and foster growth in the local software ecosystem.

We also have a small business portal www.merabusiness.com or Microsoft.com/India/SMB which offers latest information to consumers on the portfolio of products available for SMBs along with information on latest technology advice and IT adoption to assist consumers with business decisions and information on contact points of partners across the country.