With that in mind, one might expect large investment in the market from the major IT vendors. While the majority make half-hearted overtures to capture this burgeoning market by offering a myriad of watered-down solutions, few are truly catering for the needs of Britain's entrepreneurs and small business owners.
The large IT vendors often bring out their loudhailers to proclaim they look after SMEs but, more often than not, it proves to be little more than just hot air. Historically, there has sadly been very little innovation for the SME marketplace, meaning there's no innovation for 99.9% of companies in the UK. One size doesn't fit all, yet that's exactly the attitude taken up by many of the large IT vendors who go chasing the SME pound.
The average small company only has a limited budget to allocate to IT spending each year. Many actually get by on an ‘if we must' attitude, whereby the managing director, who often serves as the IT manager as well, makes an uninformed technology choice. From a hardware point of view, SMEs often have to pay over the odds for capacity and speed that they do not need, or are forced to rely on high-end consumer products that may not have the reliability for a continuous daily workload. In a similar light, if software is watered down or too complex to install with existing infrastructure, the average SME will waste both time and money on products that just aren't up to scratch.
Jane King is internal operations manager of OsteoTech, a supplier of medical devices and implants to the UK surgical community. To guarantee continued growth the company knew they needed to take a proactive approach to managing their IT. They also specifically wanted a CRM solution to support their expanding customer database and provide an accurate overview of data to help develop strategic sales, marketing plans and projects.
"Mamut was recommended to us and we now have and use the entire package," King explains. "We have our sales, CRM and the accountancy go through it. The benefits we have found include the status page that puts everything at your finger tips; absolutely crucial to any business."
Over the past five years the technology landscape has changed significantly and the range of IT choices has expanded substantially. Today, in tandem with technology developments, new user trends and patterns have emerged. Most of us now use services delivered over the web, albeit often as consumers rather than in a business context.
IT vendors need to make the everyday operations of small businesses
easier and more efficient by automating and simplifying core tasks and
processes
As personnel within SMEs become acquainted with software or applications running over the web in their personal lives, a natural openness to this delivery will open up SME businesses to run programmes and applications over the web.
If the IT sector is to take advantage of these trends then potential customers have to be offered a complete combination of software which can link together with services delivered over the web. Based on a holistic solution, a company can set up different access levels for different users, enabling remote access to varying levels of information.
IT vendors need to make the everyday operations of small businesses easier and more efficient by automating and simplifying core tasks and processes. At Mamut we have development criteria that software must be easy to install, intuitive to use and represent value for money. The purpose of business IT is to facilitate doing better business. Improving communications, management controls, back-office processes; IT is simply a series of tools. For small businesses the challenge is in finding tools that are fit for purpose.
Complex software - regardless of the ultimate benefits it may proclaim to deliver - is unhelpful for a small business, often because the training to use it effectively is too expensive. What's needed are simple, innovative, fit for purpose, ready out of the box solutions that allow SMEs to get on with the job and not be burdened by the technology.
It's not that large IT vendors can't innovate to create software that is designed for the needs of small firms, it's rather that they don't want to. Enterprise vendors are used to getting away with just switching off options or lumbering SMEs with big licences that don't fully meet their specific needs. By sourcing the right tools, engineered specifically for SME uses, a small business can be stronger in the marketplace and expand faster.
OsteoTech manager Jane King is enthusiastic about the benefits of the new setup on her business. "Mamut has helped us really streamline the business and it tells us our best selling products straight away. We can see who our biggest customer is and our cash flow position: we can see anything in a snap shot for the business, on one page," she says.
Many small businesses fall hook, line and sinker for the pricing bait. Large vendors have to realise that SMEs need help, as they often fail to make vital considerations such as total cost of ownership and the services component. With their limited budgets, they are willing to pay for functionality and not for the frills. SMEs demand software that is less expensive, easy to deploy and use, and has a flexible architecture. When an IT vendor can innovate to do this they open up to 99.9% of the market - not a number to turn your back on. Small businesses need tools but they must be fit for purpose and fit their business needs. Anything less is a waste.
For more information please visit www.mamut.com
