SMB Market

Small and medium-sized IT providers have welcomed the Federal Government’s plans to appoint an SMB IT advocate, but some claim nothing will change unless it gains extra powers.

SMB-centric telecommunications provider, M2, is plotting more acquisitions after experiencing a significant financial windfall in its first-half.

HP today unveiled a host of new services aimed at helping small data-center operators boost performance and cut operating costs. Aimed at data centers up to 5,000 square feet in size, these facilities-oriented services include capacity analysis, infrastructure condition and capacity analysis, and energy-efficiency analysis.

The companies merging under the new Hostech/Anittel SMB powerhouse claim the deal is a fast way to fulfil their growth strategies.

Managing IT systems and staff is a massive trial for any business, but when you’re experiencing growth through expansion and acquisition it’s even more challenging. Taking a managed services approach allowed one organisation get a grip on its infrastructure, as MATTHEW SAINSBURY found out.

There's a special place reserved for the stalwart hardware that many of us have depended on day after day, year after year. Or at least, we believe there should be a special place.

Figuring a good sales compensation plan is like making oil and water blend smoothly. Sales people always think management is cheating them out of commissions. Management always thinks sales people are stealing them blind. Owners of smaller companies who manage the sales people themselves often focus on the dollar paid in commission rather than thinking of the associated $20 of company revenue.

At a time when most businesses are looking to cut costs and leverage existing resources, channel partners may feel discouraged in the marketplace. But according to Lora Gernon, senior director of Microsoft Canada's partner group, there's actually no better time than now for partners to start having conversations with their customers.

Just because you don't have a large enterprise doesn't mean you can't run your IT operation like the big guys. Here are seven ways to help your SMB--a small or medium-size business--implement some of the lessons big IT operations have learned over the years. Using these tips, you should be able to improve productivity, cut costs, and keep your business running smoothly.

Ingram Micro was caught in a whirlwind of economic forces this year, and its newly installed Australian vice-president and general manager, Jay Miley, found himself quickly anchored in the middle of it.

When it comes to his success, Anittel founder and CEO, Peter Kazacos, does not dwell on former glories. And why would he? The three year-old services company is successful in its own right, nabbing ARN’s SMB Reseller of the Year gong two years in a row.

Westcon Group is confident its focus on core technologies such as collaboration, security, storage and networking will help it ride out the economic storm. General manager, Wendy O’Keeffe, caught up with ARN to discuss the state of the market and the distributor’s position in 2009.

If there’s anyone in the IT industry who knows about starting up and running a successful services business, it’s Peter Kazacos. The founder of the Kaz Group sold the business to Telstra in 2004 for a cool $333 million and worked for the telco giant right up until September 2006.

Virtually every IT organisation is feeling the impact of the global downturn. But there is a silver lining. It provides an opportunity to challenge the status quo, eliminate ineffective systems and services, and make changes that management has previously refused to consider.

Australia may have been doomed to follow the world into recessions past, but some dire predictions notwithstanding, there’s a real sense of optimism on this occasion that we can ride the storm and come out stronger than many nations.

By now the holidays are becoming a distant memory and it is either the beginning of a new financial year for some, or the run to the finish for others. Welcome to 2009, a year that will undoubtedly have its share of ups and downs – hopefully more ups if some structured channel planning is put in place now.

Since my first column on Gershon (ARN, July 23), Sir Peter has departed our fair shores and left a series of challenging and optimistic recommendations in a report laid down (presumably) with some gusto on Minister Lindsay Tanner’s table. Last week, Tanner stated the recommendations would be adopted completely in full.