SMB tech trends for 2007

ConnectIT, a business technology online mag angled toward resellers and solution providers writes about the upcoming trends for SMBs (Small/ Medium Businesses).

Since I've been crafting and re-orienting Foxtrot as a Managed Service Provider for about 18 months now, I certainly agree with his notions that managed services and outsourcing will continue their upward trend.

The MSP market here in the Twin Cities is interesting. I like to think we've got things dialed in - at least operationally, and marketing is getting there finally - with being an MSP. I'm aware of several other MSPs here in the Twin Cities, and have heard nothing but negative stories about quality of service, the way they deliver, etc. I always try to get more info on how they're going wrong, and it seems the biggest downfall for them is spreading themselves too thin. They grow too fast, don't use software to automate simple tasks, and don't have standard procedures.

My days at SimonDelivers.com certainly taught me about BPM (Business Process Management), and I try to bring that into Foxtrot as much as possible. One of the ex-military techs here likes to call it SOP (Standard Operating Procedures). It kind of dehumanizes the process (for better or worse): just follow the documented process, and if the BPM design was right to start with things should all go smoothly.

If you blow your volume too high too fast, though, BPM can break down because there wind up not being enough hours in the day to get through the processes. This is where automation of tasks comes in. We try to leverage our software investments to automate simple tasks, so the only human interaction winds up being configuring and monitoring a whole slew of tasks.

This is a constant concern of mine still - how big can we grow? One can forecast all day long, talk to peers, use industry benchmarks . . . but when all's said and done it's a fairly case-by-case situation. The systems, the employees and the customers all determine exactly how big we'll be able to get, and how quickly.