All businesses have needs, but small businesses have some critical needs that if addressed can easily make a big difference to their bottom line. When selling to a small business focus on specific needs to ensure that the business owner or decision maker is satisfied on key points. Focus also helps teams and consultants stay on task and keep billable time to a minimum. The following are key points to consider when thinking about the prioritized list of needs for a small business:
Access to data anywhere, anytime
Easy systems for communicating with customers and prospects
Storage, management, and backup of communication with customers and prospects
Reliable automatic backups to reduce risk and downtime
Redundancy of data from laptop machines to a central repository to reduce the risk when equipment is lost
Collaborative tools for small teams, partner firms, and relations
Low-cost alternatives to enterprise-level options and features
Organized electronic document management
PDA mobility integration
The ability to store retrievable tidbits needed in the daily running of the business
Templates for best practice methodology documentation, marketing material, and contracts
SBS meets the list of prioritized needs specifically with key core features including remote access, mail hosting, and Companyweb, which is an intranet. Table 2.1 illustrates how SBS meets needs.
Table 2.1. Small Business Needs Met by SBS
Small Business Need | SBS Feature |
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Access to data anywhere, anytime | SBS includes Remote Web Workplace (RWW) and Outlook Web Access (OWA) both of which meet this need. |
Easy systems for communicating with customers and prospects | SBS contains Exchange and Outlook email, SharePoint intranet, and Electronic Fax Services. |
The ability to store retrievable tidbits needed in the daily running of the business | SBS contains the MSDE database, SharePoint, and Outlook. |
Storage, management, and backup of communication with customers and prospects | SBS includes advanced mail servicing using MS Exchange as a solution that ensures that large quantities of mail are efficiently managed and backed up. |
PDA mobility integration | SBS integrates and synchronizes to numerous personal data assistants (PDAs) offering mail history and Internet access to the server through RWW. |
Reliable automatic backups to reduce risk and downtime Redundancy of data from laptop machines to a central repository to reduce the risk when equipment is lost | SBS has built-in backup routines. SBS offers a full server environment where the central server manages the networked machines. |
Collaborative tools for small teams | SBS contains SharePoint and Companyweb for collaboration and supports more MS applications such as Live Meeting. |
Collaborative tools for partner firms and relations | An SBS intranet can be set up for sharing data with partners and relations. |
Templates for best practice methodology documentation, marketing material, and contracts Low-cost alternatives to enterprise-level options and features | The SBS methodology includes easy walk-through documentation and templates. Priced significantly below what purchasing all the components separately would cost, the SBS bundle is positioned for the small business. |
Organized electronic document management | SBS includes document management through the SharePoint intranet features. |