3/16/00 M2 Presswire (Pg. Unavail. Online)
2000 WL 16125603
M2 PRESSWIRE
Copyright 2000 M2 Communications, Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
Thursday, March 16, 2000
Out of the box
--
onto the board; SMEs want ICT suppliers to offer strategic, board level advice
--
not shift boxes
London -- The future competitiveness of the UK's dynamic and
financially important small business sector is at risk because its
relationship with IT suppliers is so fundamentally flawed, resellers
were told last week. The warning came from the University of Durham
Business School Foresight Research Centre director, Ted Fuller last week
at a channel seminar about the small to medium sized (SME) business
marketplace. Although SMEs account for 90% of UK business or about 1.3
million firms, resellers are still failing to tap this lucrative market.
Fuller argued that the only way to remedy the situation is for resellers
and small businesses to develop a relationship based on long term
business development, more akin to those that firms have with their
external accountants and lawyers.
The seminar was hosted by Flexion Systems to mark the launch of
BusinessGuardian, its debut range of products and services for small
business which will only be sold through authorised resellers.
Fuller's warning was based on new research from the business school's
Foresight Centre investigating the gap between what the small business
needs and what the channel is able to supply. The gap can be partly
traced back to the lack of IT and telecoms solutions that both meet SMEs
requirements and which enable the reseller to develop this longer term
relationship with its clients on a profitable basis. Fuller undelined
that the gap has been exacerbated by the inability of the two parties to
communicate: small firms are looking for answers to business problems,
not the 'kit' or 'features' they are normally sold. In effect, he said,
the two parties are speaking a 'different language'.
This 'gap' was echoed by the experiences of other speakers at the
conference. Small firm owner, James Scarleft of James Yorke Ltd,
discussed the importance of Information and Communications Technology
(ICT) to his company but stressed the need for ICT providers to 'help to
keep the focus on the business not the technology'. He looked forward to
a time when his channel partner would become a specialist board-level
member of the management team or 'virtual IT manager', developing IT
strategies based on an in-depth understanding of the business.
This is exactly what Jeffrey Teece, managing director of Excel
Computers aims to achieve with his clients. He told seminar delegates
that, 'As a reseller, our success depends on our client's success. If I
help my clients to grow, then they'll help my company to grow too."
Although Teece has always identified establishing long-term
relationships as the key to his success with SMEs, he highlighted that
he has historically been hampered by the lack of ICT that really works
for a small business. Typically his options have been restricted to
pared down corporate solutions,
Teece and Guy Watts, from Getech, Flexion's UK distributor, are both
working closely with Flexion to open up the small business market place
through its BusinessGuardian range.
BusinessGuardian closes the gap between the channel and the small
business by providing products, services and support. It has been
designed with the business needs of small firms and the reseller
specifically in mind. Watts explains, "As well as providing the small
business with affordable ICT that does not require technology know-how,
BusinessGuardian builds on what is already installed while effectively
giving the small firm greater control of its customer relations. For the
reseller, BusinessGuardian promotes increased service revenue and
encourages customer loyalty while reducing support overheads and
facilitating the path to offering converged services."
'Mind The Gap!', the Durham research report launched at the seminar,
clearly points out that small businesses will only be able to fully
assimilate ICT when the supplier and small business can learn to
understand each other. The research highlights the need for a 'new type
of hybrid advisor who understands both the technological and business
development angles' of ICT and who can bridge the gap between technology
and business requirements in a current and future context.
Seminar host, Andrew Bale CEO of Flexion concluded, "There's the
potential here for a real win-win situation - small businesses don't
want suppliers who just sell technology products and there's no future
for a reseller who only does that. What the channel needs to ask is
where it can add value to the small business. Part of that is having the
right products and services to offer but it's also about a mind-set.
Accountants and lawyers offer ongoing advice and support to their
clients - not just balancing the books at year-end or drafting ad hoc
contracts. It's the resellers that can imitate this model that will most
effectively secure a profitable future for themselves."
About Flexion Systems
Flexion Systems is a provider of managed business solutions. Its
mission is to help customers best utilise and integrate voice and data
communications capabilities to the fullest. Flexion is more than just a
technology company - it is an innovative, entrepreneurial organisation
made up of seasoned industry executives, talented technology experts and
a dynamic marketing/sales team. Flexion Systems is based in Maidenhead
and Chippenham and in San Francisco in the USA. Flexion is backed by
leading investors from both sides of the Atlantic.
Find out more about Flexion Systems and the BusinessGuardian product
family at www.flexion.com.
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