Are SMBs Getting Forgotten? -

One thing that I find a bit of concern when watching technologies being developed and marketed is that Small and Medium sized Businesses (SMBs) are often forgotten with respect to software applications needs. Although we advanced professionals focus on cutting edge technologies, advanced hardware/software solutions, and sophisticated applications that work well in a corporate or large institution environment, the SMB companies rarely have needs for this level of system complexity and cost. They could not care less about Big Data, Open Systems Standards, Automated Classification, Cloud Architectures, and other seeming obsessions of the elite ECM/ERM crowd. What they need is cost effective workflow enabling, document imaging applications, or email archiving solutions that cost something less than the entire projected income of their organization for five years.

Amazingly, there are actually software applications that can provide these capabilities with realistic ROI for SMBs, but I rarely see this segment of the technology marketplace championed at AIIM, ARMA, and other professional conferences. Maybe the income stream is too small for the Big Iron ECM/ERM market players, but I think this will be a growing market segment in the coming years as SMBs are proven to be a stable and reliable part of most national economies. Cloud availability of applications does seem to have a great potential for this segment of the ECM/ERM marketplace, and may be the tipping point where there is more adoption of the benefits of integrated ECM/ERM solutions. But so far, I am not seeing much movement in this arena.

What do you think are the challenges and opportunities for increasing SMB adoption of ECM/ERM applications? Will Cloud based applications be the tipping point or another technology to leverage?

Comments

Sometimes Forgotten, Often Ignored

Submitted by Daniel Antion April 13, 2012 - 6:58 AM

Thanks John for calling attention to SMBs. I would agree with you that most solution providers either ignore us or misunderstand us completely, especially the ones who define SMB as 200-500 employees. We are 35 people trying to meet the needs of a modern insurance company, and most of the large established vendors simply miss the point entirely.

The good news is that there are some products, and there are some vendors who “get it”. We chose SharePoint, not so much because it is inexpensive (dubious claim) but because we could ease our way into it over time. We have found that even within the SharePoint market, there are vendors who don’t understand SMBs. There are some wonderful products that bolt onto, or run alongside of SharePoint whose pricing models just don’t work for us. On the other hand, we have found a number of vendors who have been willing to listen to our story, and adjust their pricing, so I would encourage SMB owners and managers to ask if accommodations can be made for reality.

As for cloud-based solutions, I don’t see them as a panacea. I have written about this several times, and I still feel that the cloud scales up, but not down. Cloud vendors, at least most of the ones I’ve spoken to, love companies who are small and planning to grow. SBMs that are likely to remain small should get comfortable having very little leverage with any cloud vendor they team up with.

As Eyore would say, thanks for noticing.
Dan

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Cloud for SaaS

Submitted by Chris Walker April 13, 2012 - 9:26 AM

Dan

I agree that cloud isn't a panacea, but I think that as a SaaS facilitator it has merit for SMB's, in certain processes.

Cheers!
Chris

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Support is Critical

Submitted by John Phillips April 13, 2012 - 10:57 AM

I agree that there is much merit for SMBs, but I think they need to be careful about the nature and level of support they are expecting - technical, functional, training, etc. I think an SMB is better off with a cloud/SaaS provider that is also an SMB, so they understand each other's prioritoes and issues better.

John

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OOTB

Submitted by Chris Walker April 13, 2012 - 11:16 AM

You're correct, of course. I was thinking more along the lines that SMB's could take advantage of OOTB or true configurable offerings. Also, level of support & flexibility would be determined by level of offering (i.e.: $/mo).

If I were an SMB contemplating a change, I may initially take a look at my support/admin processes such as HR & finance as candidates for SaaS.

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Smaller Could Mean Similar

Submitted by John Phillips April 13, 2012 - 1:57 PM

"... initially take a look at my support/admin processes such as HR & finance as candidates for SaaS."

Yes, it would seem that HR, at least should easily be OOTB for SMBs if they have similar metadata, workflow, and reporting requirements. But, I have a feeling that financial applications could differ a lot between SMBs, as this gets into their revenue streams and customer interactions. However, taking a look at support/admin processes in general should be a good area.

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SP has promise but still needs support

Submitted by John Phillips April 13, 2012 - 10:53 AM

SharePoint's initial ease of use and installation are definitely a major plus for SMBs. However, as with all content management systems, the support model is critical. Although SMBs do not have the "viral" proliferation of servers across the enterprise issues and accompanying "Tower of Babel" taxonomy nightmares, they still need astute and competent technical support. This is still a challenge to provide internally when the SMB "IT Group" may already be overwhelmed with networking and user interface support tasks. I am already seeing some IT support businesses venturing into SP support, but, as would be expected, their knowledge of ECM/ERM issues is miniscule. I am hoping this will change.

And I agree that Cloud applications have hidden dangers. Instead of calling the (reasonably motivated) IT folks down the hall when things don't work you, you get to call someone in the Cloud, hoping there is an Angel up there somewhere.

John

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The Curse of the SMBs

Submitted by Laurence Hart April 13, 2012 - 11:11 AM

I feel your pain. While I've helped large orgs with these problems, I've always worked for a smaller one.

One reason that providers for SMBs don't get all the love is because it is such a fragmented market. The providers don't own a large chunk and have smaller marketing budgets. When they grow bigger, many seem to aspire to the ranks of selling to the large organization. Million dollar deals can seem very enticing.

I'm hoping that the cloud, SaaS in particular, can help. Yes, many seem to be going from consumer to big-name companies in their focus, but that is actually a good thing. Those large companies will force real business features to become part of the equation. If they then do proper SaaS pricing, SMBs will profit because they'll then get Enterprise features for SMB prices.

Going to be a long road, but I actually see the end of the wait for SMBs when these SaaS solutions mature.

-Pie

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Sounds Better Than I Thought!

Submitted by John Phillips April 13, 2012 - 12:32 PM

Thanks for your insights relative to " If they then do proper SaaS pricing, SMBs will profit because they'll then get Enterprise features for SMB prices." This sounds good to me and undoubtedly will be good for SMBs.

John

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