The Small Business IT consulting community is really a dynamic and exciting community to become active in at this time. Many different opportunities are gaining some serious momentum in this underserved marketplace in Canada. The Small Business marketplace will be the fastest-growing segment in the information technology market. Currently, approximately 97% of the businesses in Canada have five-hundred employees or less, which means an incredible sell to specialize in.
Microsoft launched their Small Business Specialist enter in summer time of 2005 at their annual partner conference. Since that time, a number of it consulting firms have taken benefit of the program to commence their consulting practice. The Small Business Specialist program is designed to promote Microsoft’s offerings to small business. It establishes SBSC members as leaders within the small business IT consulting marketplace that’s been thrust in the spotlight for growth potential.
The Small Business Specialist program serves as a best resource for IT professionals to access information, promotions, partnership opportunities and assistance to service a small business oriented client base. Groups have emerged on international, national and regional levels that assist the small business specialist in obtaining not only technical but additionally important business assistance. Additionally, every year SMB Nation includes the small business consulting community to network, learn, share and play.
The small business consulting community has grown out of the leadership of corporations like Microsoft, SonicWALL, and Symantec. It’s also grown because of people like Harry Brelsford of SMB Nation and several other leaders locally. Their leadership provides Small Business Specialists with additional resources to sharpen their craft long before the official launch of programs from corporations like Microsoft.
The SMB community is available to sharing experiences, ideas, concepts and finest practices so that emerging IT companies can seek knowledge to develop and grow. “I like concentrating on a market segment where I can really get to know my clients and have a direct, tangible effect on their businesses,” claims Jeff Anderson, Gm of Red Deer’s Bulletproof Networks, the city’s leading Small Business Specialist. Business development, however, is usually overlooked by those text book technicians who’ve decided to start their own businesses. Gaining knowledge from others in the SBSC community allows the small business consultants like Jeff to learn two or three markets and be the expert specialist in that field to be able to have the possibility to achieve start up business clients.
New service offerings are demanding small business consultants start planning now on how to bring them to their client base. Clients today are in search of options that are evolving plus they must be presented in a manner and language that they understand. Managed services, remote monitoring, software and hardware as services are beginning to gain some traction in the market and as a new offering they need to be offered by their SMB consultant. Small businesses want a company that they can trust. “When both you and your peers are representative of 97% of the Canadian marketplace, it seems sensible to become working with the very businesses that share the same concerns and deal with the same issues you do. Who easier to give them the right tools to achieve success?” states Elisabeth Vandervelt of Conamex International, an top rated Microsoft Small Business Specialist in Montreal.
Today’s small businesses need innovative solutions to keep them competitive within the busy, on-demand, we-needed-it-yesterday and downtime-is-not-an-option environment we call today’s business world. SBSC members possess the luxury and the capability to have direct interaction with decision makers therefore sales cycles are generally shorter as the interest in services hasn’t been higher.
Another luxury within the small business community is the ability to share work with each other across regional, national and international boundaries. Many firms are partnering locally to provide a one-stop shop for their clients who require a specialized service or coverage in areas where their customers may have a remote user or branch office. Partnering within the SBSC community is crucial to the success of the small business consultant’s business because it gives small firms the reach and abilities of a much larger IT company and may function as the their edge on their competition in the current marketplace.
The Small Business Specialist can be assured that they’ve the pride and recognition of a job well done coupled with a residential area to back them up. All of these positive aspects provide an overwhelming sense of accomplishment for participants within the SBSC program.
I reflect to when my youngest son is at Beavers as well as their leaders consistently reminded them of the Beaver motto, the same motto that is the cornerstone of the SBSC community and all other small business consulting groups: Sharing, Sharing, Sharing! Share your successes with others; help others who are struggling; and share of you to ultimately make our community strong.