Help desk and emergency service calls often required lengthy calls, providing step-by-step instructions to collaborate with end-users to fix issues before rolling a truck. Since remote monitoring was in its infancy a decade ago, diagnosing and remediating clients’ issues was a lot more difficult than it is today (and more costly). Basically, in order to gain clients and increase revenue substantially, solution providers had to grow their operations at a similar rate. Companies only looked big if they truly were big.
Fast forward to 2012…the IT services industry looks a lot different. By leveraging managed services, the cloud and mobility solutions, even a one-man shop can look like a major organization. More importantly, if they leverage third-party help desks and automate repeatable processes, they can actually provide the same level of support as much larger competitors.
Small IT solution provider businesses are the lifeblood of the channel, but, despite the advanced technologies and methods available to help them support their clients, they can still use some help. That’s why the CompTIA Small Business Owners Community was formed more than two years ago, to develop best practices, business fundamental education and resources for emerging IT businesses with fewer than 50 employees. With many similarly focused solution provider executives contributing their expertise and ideas, the group brainstormed and successfully designed a developed a large number of useful business operations tools and templates, as well as specific instructional programs for targeting SMB organizations.
There are approximately 1.6 million small businesses in the U.S. (companies with between 10-100 employees) employing more than 56 million people and, while 82 percent of them get their IT support from other employees, it still leaves a huge opportunity for solution providers. Not every SMB understands the value of working with a solution provider, but the SBO members have been actively collaborating on a variety of resources that improve overall awareness levels.
Frank Picarello, chief operating officer, CMIT Solutions, and chairman of the Small Business Owners Community, says eight out of ten small businesses are self-service when it comes to technology. “They handle their technology purchase and management themselves, but 90 percent of them would like an alternative to doing it themselves. What you have to do is convince them that they shouldn’t be self-service,” he emphasizes.
How can the SBO Community help the typical solution provider accomplish their goals? It starts with the development of a variety of ongoing group initiatives, such as the following objectives discussed at the April CompTIA Annual Member Meeting:
- Creating an industry roadmap (maintain an understanding of emerging, current and fading trends that affect small business owners),
- Developing a business education series (face-to-face sessions and webinars),
- Reviewing the Authorized Service Center Program and
- Completing the philanthropic challenge (CompTIA will donate $5,000 to two charities that community members select).
No IT business is too small to benefit from membership in the SBO Community. Even one-man shops need to improve their process efficiencies and seek out new clients in order to grow revenue and keep the lights on. But the leaner a solution provider is, the harder it can be to tackle new tasks and recruit new customers—there are only so many hours in a day and even the most efficient business will reach a limit.
That’s why it’s so important to listen to the success of peers, and apply the best practices that make the most sense for your business. See what involvement in the CompTIA SBO has to offer at http://www.comptia.org/membership/communities/sbo.aspx.
Brian Sherman is founder of Tech Success Communications, specializing in editorial content and consulting for the IT channel. His previous roles include chief editor at Business Solutions magazine and industry alliances director with Autotask. Contact Brian at Bsherman@techsuccesscommunications.com.
