Small companies, big requirements

In recent years, the SME sector has been the target of a lot of interest from the larger IT providers. As traditional markets have become saturated, the so-called mid-market space has become a hotbed of competition, with vendors vying for mind- and wallet-share.

This has naturally been good for SMEs as many companies have scaled down enterprise offerings to make them suitable for smaller companies, as well as developing applications, product bundles and full solutions specifically targeted at this sector.

SMEs seldom have full-time IT resources. If they do, these rarely extend to more than an IT manager, or a technician or two, whose hands are full with keeping things running on a daily basis. The resultant challenge for these companies is how to select IT solutions that meet current and future needs, are affordable and are manageable from a maintenance and upkeep point of view.

The first step for any company looking to implement an ICT solution is to consider its pain points holistically. Rather than merely picking up point solutions that relieve pain points as they appear, an SME should rather consider what its core business is and what ICT solutions will enable the company to operate better, faster or more effectively. Once the company has an idea of the types of solutions it may find useful, it needs to start investigating specific solutions and suppliers.

From a hardware perspective, says Tarsus Technologies' HP product manager Jason McMillan, companies should consider future needs.

"What kind of expansion and growth is the company anticipating? Upgrading is something that doesn't really happen in the industry to a great extent any longer. Where companies used to upgrade in year two or three, now it is almost cheaper just to buy new equipment. Companies need to look at where they will be in two or three years' time when considering replacing IT hardware.

"On the server side," he adds, "the processing power and general ability of entry-level servers these days is powerful enough to run a number of users. And utilities available on the Web can help SMEs select a specific server per number of users."

As far as networking goes, Duxbury Networking CTO Andy Robb says: "What used to be out of reach to SMEs, both from a scope and a price perspective, is now firmly within the grasp of smaller players. Technologies such as remote access through VPNs, high-end security, VOIP and network-based storage, that were originally only available to the enterprise space, are making inroads into the SME sector. Setting up any of these technologies today is a cinch. Arguably, the positive impacts on productivity and cost are even more worthwhile to SMEs than enterprises," he states.

He warns that SMEs shouldn't write off technologies such as wireless, integrated network storage or VOIP "because they may not need them right now or buy a solution that only supports their current volume of users".

From a connectivity perspective, the cost of bandwidth - broadband in particular - has come down and a significantly wider range of options is available today than was in the recent past. There are online resources available that demonstrate which connectivity packages are best suited to various users based on monthly usage scenarios.

SMEs should carefully consider the bigger picture when making software purchases. Does the software do exactly what you need it to do, straight out of the box? Does the software interoperate with existing applications? Will it scale if you need to add more users in the future? Is your current hardware suitable or will you need to budget for software and hardware expenditure? Is the vendor reputable and is local support readily and affordably available?

This bigger picture is particularly valid if companies have software specifically developed. Advises Sandy Pullinger, MD of nFold, a local software research and advisory company: "Start with a good business case. Quite often people spend their IT budget as a knee-jerk reaction to a problem rather than as a strategic thing to help run their business. Once you've got a good business case in place, be sure to think about your requirements in a practical way.

"This can be as simple as asking, 'and then?'. Once your requirements are defined, you need to go out and do the research. Chat to your mates, search the Net and read research until you know what's out there. Then you need to put out a good RFP. Give the people who are responding enough information about your business so that they can respond in an informed way. Finally, define a decision framework to take the emotion out of the decision-making process and to ensure requirements like timing and budgets are met," she says.

A copier is not an investment - it's a technology commodity.

Gavin Meyer, North region executive director, ITEC

SMEs should carefully consider office automation equipment, the bane of many offices, and often an expensive one at that. Changes in the industry have happened at a pace in recent years to the extent that services that used to be outsourced, like colour printing, have actually become affordable to the degree that it's feasible to do in-house.

Says ITEC North region executive director Gavin Meyer: "A copier is not an investment - it is a technology commodity that everyone needs." He recommends that SMEs consider rentals or leasing as a better option, enabling them to take such equipment off the balance sheet while benefiting from upgrade and refresh options.

"Once that decision is made, the second thing to consider is output," he says. "There have been a lot of technology changes, particularly around colour. Today you can print a full-colour page for 33 cents; not long ago, it was R2 or R3 per page. Companies can do a lot better if they in-source colour requirements and they can let selective people print that."

Choosing the right supplier is critical. It is important to choose a company that can support the organisation in all its geographies, and that does more than just box-drop.

"Implementation is where costs often come down," says Meyer. "Who will install the right drivers? Who will train staff to scan to PDF and who will come back when new staff are hired? When you partner as an SME, you need to ensure the partner has skills you don't have, which will bring costs down. If you don't train people, for instance, they will not change behaviours and will, for example, keep printing to the printer on their desk and not use the multifunctional device in the corner that has a lower cost per page."

The cost of consumables also needs consideration, as does the service contract. SMEs should ensure the service cost is fixed and cannot be increased by the provider a month or two in. A service level agreement (SLA) also needs to be signed and must include material penalties for non-delivery.

Once an SME has basic IT infrastructure in place, the company needs to ensure this infrastructure is secure and that it is backed up, making it recoverable in the event of a failure or disaster.

In order to ensure a company is secured properly, outsourcing is frequently the best option, particularly given that SMEs often do not have the specialist IT security skills needed to handle today's world of multiple threats and distributed networks and computers.

Says Securicom IT specialist Dries Morris: "SMEs have to look at an outsource scenario where they can purchase enterprise-level security at an affordable level as an SME."

He recommends looking for a provider that "takes best of breed solutions, packages them and makes them available to SMEs on a hosted or outsource basis".

"Proactive security services such as intelligence services, patch management services and application vulnerability testing services," says SecureData technology director Wayne Biehn, "can help alleviate the pain experienced by many SME organisations in maintaining and managing a defensible security posture."

He notes that organisations are still often casualties to both new and old content threats simply because a single device was unprotected or out-of-date.

Beyond security, companies need to ensure they have proper backup procedures in place. In the event of a disaster, either natural or man-made, such as a security breach, SMEs need to know that they can get their businesses up and running within the shortest possible timeframe.

To this end, CA storage business unit manager Sagaran Naidoo says a backup plan must be supported by appropriate hardware and software tools.

"It should begin with a classification of company data and the possible threats that information may face. Once this is known, steps can be taken to protect the information accordingly. SMEs must look for solutions that include automation, efficient use of network bandwidth, continuous data protection and continuous application availability, if needed.

"In addition to this, low-cost solutions are available to automate the migration of data from primary storage to less expensive devices based on age and other criteria, thereby lowering the total cost of ownership. Data protection plans should also be tested regularly to ensure the backups can actually be restored and that disaster recovery sites do indeed provide business continuity in the event of a disaster."

Upgrading is something that doesn't really happen any longer.

Jason McMillan, HP product manager, Tarsus Technologies

Given the limited funds and skills available to SMEs, outsourcing specialist services or procuring them on a managed services basis is often the most viable and affordable option.

ITEC's Meyer states that SMEs should always outsource office automation equipment maintenance.

"For any SME to do maintenance internally is difficult. They often lack the skills and then TCO goes through the roof. When selecting an outsourcer, you really need to investigate and ask the tough questions. Are they an importer of the product? You don't want to outsource maintenance to a company that outsources it themselves. You want a company that has access to spares and consumables. Also, put SLAs in place, which must be linked to uptime and must be strong. Link it to performance penalties."

Likewise, says Cisco SMB manager Nicole Anderson, some SMEs outsource to reduce labour costs.

"For SMEs struggling to offer competitive salaries and benefits, good employees can be hard to keep. Some have discovered that using managed network services helps them retain valuable staff members.

"Managed network services provide many advantages. Typically, the service provider designs, implements, installs and maintains one or more major network functions. The ability to keep and attract employees is just one benefit. SMEs also gain technology expertise at predictable, affordable monthly rates, 24-hour management of network services, the ability to manage rapid business growth while keeping a small staff, the freedom to focus on core competencies, enhanced productivity, reduced network and communications costs, rapid access to new technologies without needing in-house expertise, and increased agility to respond to business conditions."

Many of the above benefits apply to any IT service that can be outsourced or supplied on a hosted or managed basis. SMEs would do well to consider which services do not form part of their core function and would be better and more effectively handled by a supplier or partner. SMEs should also consider suppliers that provide a variety of the above services or else they may find themselves hiring someone merely to handle all their outsource contracts and SLAs.

With any IT investment, whether it is a purchase, rental or outsource arrangement, a solid business case that demonstrates clear value to the business is the only place to start. Technology for technology's sake is expensive and pointless, as is dashing off and buying the cheapest available product merely because it is the cheapest.

A solid business case with a sound framework for evaluating alternatives and making objective decisions, as nFold's Pullinger noted, is the only option. For SMEs, every little bit counts, budget and IT-wise. One small, poor decision could have rather large consequences.