Verizon SMB article for View from the Top/GTB. ProducedAdvertorial/bylined article, ghost-written for Verizon, for publication in Global Telecoms Business. Produced May 2008, by /Sue Tabbitt.

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Small needn't mean cheap
From wireline to wireless, cCommunications form the backbone of any small and growing business. With the right proposition and purchase flexibility, SMBs will keep investing to ensure they survive any recession, says Quintin Lew, senior vice-president of marketing at Verizon Partner Solutions, (thethe company's US wholesale organiszation in Verizon)

While the Western economy goes into freefall and large businesses begin to slow up on their investments, there remains a large section of the customer community that can't afford to put essential information and communications technology (ICT)ICT [Sue … is this information and communication technology? Does it need to be spelled out?] projects on hold - the SMB market. So integral are high-performing networks and systems to being competitive and delivering customer service, that many small and growing companies depend on them almost entirely to run their business.

IT vendors have long recognised the commercial potential of the SMB sector, given the sheer number of smaller firms that make up national business markets, not to mention their growth potential. When IBM launched a renewed attack on the market last year, it valued the SMB market for hardware and software at $330 billion globally. And that's to say nothing of the potential for communications services and networks.

While SMBs may struggle with limited cash flow, their need to underpin their organisations with productivity-boosting ICT systems is substantial if they want to maximise employee resources, support growth, compete with larger rivals and create credibility with customers.

All of this applies doubly to communications technology and services, being the means by which staff keep in touch - with customers, with suppliers, with each other, and with their business and their market.

Unique needs

Knowing that they must continue to invest here in reliable telecom networks to remain competitive, yet retain tight control of costs, means SMBs have several basic but vital needs as they contemplate new voice and data services:

1. They must be sure they are buying in solutions that meet their specific requirements as modest but growing businesses (for example, the need to start small but be able to scale efficiently);
2. They need to keep their purchasing strategy simple - keeping their number of suppliers and platforms to a minimum, for easier management, simplified billing and lower support costs;
3. With limited expertise in house, they prefer should rely on close relationships with trusted suppliers who can advise and support them, as well as simply sell them systems and services in a simplified way;
4. They will be looking forneed flexible purchasing options, especially leasing arrangements or monthly managed service arrangements, which help them to spread costs while bringing important projects forward in time.

Service providers addressing the SMB market may have found all of this a challenge in the past, wondering how they can sustain their own margins and cash flow as they serve customers that keep looking to drive down price. Today, there is a plan to meet these challenges.

To serve this customer base effectively, and make a good business out of it, requires the right kind of support from the carrier community - in the form of a comprehensive range of SMB-targeted offerings, provided on a wholesale basis, thatto which provide price advantages and room for margin.

Simplicity is crucial, too. SMBs need to be able to pick and choose the solutions and capacities they need, which means service providers must be able to mix and match offerings easily, without billing becoming complicated or customers' future options being restricted.

Flexible leasingfinancinge

They also need support withaccess to creative pricing,financing in the form of credit support., so that their SMB customers feel able to deploy the services they need without having to worry about cash flow. The so-called credit 'squeeze' and growing uncertainty ofover the economy have dominated the news recently. Lenders and equipment leasing companies have generally tightened their underwriting requirements and are less willing to extend credit. The ability to offer a financing source as part of a proposal -- to the SService Providers as well as the SMBs -- can now, more than ever, make all the difference in when it comes to a customer's selection of a wholesale provider. This flexibility allows themeans SMBs are able to SMB customers a better ability to deploy the services they need without having to worry about cash flow.

Sales and training support are vital, too. With the right promotional campaigns and incentives behind them, and appropriate training to make sales effortlesseasier, service providers can better serve their SMB customers, while running an efficient, profit-making operation.

Happily, the rewards are more than worth it. Having struck up a relationship with the right partner - one that is prepared to support them proactively - SMBs can be intensely loyal.

What's more, recent research has confirmed that even smaller, more cash-strapped businesses have now begun to recognise the importance of buying critical products and services based on 'value' rather than price. A new market study released in February of this year, by Access Markets International Partners (AMI-Partners), which explored the top IT trends for global SMB markets in 2008, found that 'technology investments are increasingly being tied to top-of-mind business objectives and strategies, signalling the rise of a less price-sensitive, and yet more sophisticated, business consumer'.

From SP to life partner

What's more, recent research has confirmed that even smaller, more cash-strapped businesses have now begun to recognise the importance of buying critical products and services based on 'value' rather than price. A new market study released in February of this year, by Access Markets International Partners (AMI-Partners), which explored the top IT trends for global SMB markets in 2008, found that 'technology investments are increasingly being tied to top-of-mind business objectives and strategies, signalling the rise of a less price-sensitive, and yet more sophisticated, business consumer'.

Yet this also heightens the need for a dependable service provider to be standing close by. As the report notes: "SMBs…cannot deal with 5-6 different vendors/service providers to meet their technology and communications needs - they prefer 1 or 2 vendors ['virtual CIOs'] that they can hold responsible for all their technology needs."

SMB service providers must position themselves to be that one-stop-shop, then. Which means seeking out a carrier that has appropriate offerings and support services across the communications spectrum.

As economic conditions get bumpier, SMBs will be under increasing pressure to do more with less, pushing them in the direction of ever more versatile communications solutions, especially those that enable continuity of service as staff travel around. The value of a wholesale service provider is to be able tois its ability to offer offer solutions, (through it's wholesale customers,) that takeremove the challenges of location and reachability out of the business environment for the SMBs.for the smaller business.

This will result in growing demand for sophisticated mobile solutions that keep SMBsthem fully in contact, wirelessly. But, rather than add new suppliers and bills to their already unmanageable portfolio, SMBs will be seeking to streamline their numbers of suppliers and court greater simplicity in the way they manage and pay for their various services - for example by turning to integrated wireless/wireline solutions.

SMB service providers must position themselves, then, to be that one-stop-shop, then. This means that those service providers In so doing, they will need to must seek out a wholesale carrier that haswith the complete portfolio of offerings and support services, right across the communications spectrum - from wireless to wireless - to fully to support them and their SMB customers, from wireline to wireless. With the right partner behind them, tThe SMB service provider whowill be in the best possible position to works with a wholesale network provider that offers more, will drive simplicity and a solid return on investment into the SP's supply chain, driving simplicity down to the SMB.

Above all, SMB service providers want tomust work withseek out wholesale providers that understand what it takes for them to be successful within the SMB market.

The big questiononly remaining question then is whether SPs wholesale SPsthe SP community is ready are ready to take them SMB customers on their newis journey. Are you?Are you?