Cloud Offers Win-Win for SMBs, Managed Services Providers

By relying on service providers to meet their hardware and software business support needs, today’s SMBs can concentrate on operating their businesses, not on technical minutiae that detracts from the focus necessary to be successful.

SMBs fall in two primary categories: small businesses in their start-up stages and seasoned companies that have been in existence more than five years. Both have needs for trusted, reliable managed services providers.

Younger businesses are used to using Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) tend to have low budgets so they tend to work less sophisticated applications. By working with a single, trusted managed services provider, these SMBs can grow quickly in their revenue and profits, migrating into more sophisticated applications, without the need for major cash outlays – cash many startups don’t have -- for additional hardware or for a technical specialist to fix and update on-premises computer equipment and peripherals.

With the cloud-based model, SMBs can future-proof their businesses. As soon as new security patches, compliance updates, features and other updates are released, SMBs operating with cloud-based hardware and software have access to these advances immediately. Having access to the latest security also means better protection for their critical business data. That data is also critical for the managed services provider to being the one-stop shop for the SMBs technology needs.

The seasoned businesses have already invested in technology that is very likely outdated. Once they’ve made a large capital outlay, they typically want to push the technology past its useful life, when newer, more robust technologies are already on the market that would enable them to be more productive. They typically avoid risky expensive upgrades to embrace new technologies. With the cloud-based model, applications are updated as new versions become available. Processing power also grows with the needs of the business. There is no longer the risk of making a large capital outlay only to have the technology quickly outdated.

But when they look for newer, state-of-the art technology today, they no longer have to make the large capital investments that they did a few years ago and don’t have to worry about the technology they just purchased being outdated before they recoup their investment. Instead, by working with a managed services provider, the SMB pays for the technology it needs as it is consumed, shifting large capital expenses to smaller periodic operating expenses.

The managed services providers need to understand the different needs of SMBs in order to provide the most critical services such as business productivity (word processing, spreadsheets, etc.) and put them on the path toward business maturity. They can grow into more sophisticated applications as they grow.

Consistency is what earns loyalty. When you order from Amazon, you have a very consistent experience. That isn’t the case with eBay.

We have an experience based economy. When you go to a conference, they provide free coffee. Yet you a lot of people with expensive coffee shop coffee because they want to pay for the experience.

Taking that a step further, the business-focused service provider is the one who will win in this new business environment. The service provider who sells his technical value will be left behind. What we are providing is disrupting the technical requirement. The SMBs don’t care about a service provider’s technical ability, they just want what they have to work.

So managed services delivered via the cloud is a win-win. The SMB wins because it can get the technology it needs to operate and grow the business at a cost that scales with the business. The more the business grows, the more technology it can have a digestible price, rather than a forklift investment. The managed services provider wins because by providing reliable technology services, it grows as the SMB grows.

For more information on the benefits SMBs can derive by shifting IT resources to the cloud, go to https://secaas.sonicwall.com/.