Finding the Right Strategy for Selling to Cautious SMBs.

I’m a big fan of The Onion. Yes, it sometimes trades in cheap laughs, but more often than not, it delivers clever satirical observations on some aspect of society. As a technology geek and researcher, I find the technology related stories especially brilliant.

The recent Onion article New Device Desirable, Old Device Undesirable, deftly captures the conundrum of a constantly changing tech landscape (the article is CE focused, but could just as easily apply to IT).

Thanks to a seemingly endless supply of creative energy and entrepreneurial drive, the tech industry delivers a steady stream of innovation. This generates plenty of desire among end users who want the latest shiny, new device or app, but it also causes distress among those overwhelmed by the pace of change, the pressure of a never-ending upgrade cycle and the difficulty in separating hype from fact.

CompTIA’s recent 3rd Annual SMB IT Spending Trends study touches on some of these very issues. The results point to an ongoing mindset of caution among SMBs, with hints of improving optimism in 2010. For the channel, this means SMBs will continue to take a value-based approach to IT adoption.

The research suggests SMBs will prioritize spending on IT solutions that:

• Immediately improve bottom line profitability by enhancing core business processes, productivity and efficiency.


• Provide enhanced connectivity, knowledge access/sharing with customers, partners etc.


• Better leverage current IT infrastructure investments.

In the study, 50% of SMBs agreed/strongly agreed with the statement “IT is a necessary evil rather than a critical purchase that can increase revenue and/or reduce costs,” up from 34% in 2008. Given the economic environment, one can assume that most costs are viewed as a necessary evil by SMBs. However, even if the figure is slightly inflated, channel partners should take note and focus on delivering the “right” solution, be it the shiny, new device or app, or the slightly less glamorous alternative.

CompTIA’s 3rd Annual SMB IT Spending Trends research study was conducted November 2009 among 400 US small and medium size businesses across a range of industries. The full report is available at no cost to CompTIA members. See the member only area of CompTIA.org or contact research@comptia.org for details.