Old Guard Companies Serve Businesses of Your Size

Hewlett-Packard's Smart Services is a consulting package designed to assist business managers assess their situations; plan hardware, software and services solutions; and implement them in the framework of a long-term plan that will enable their businesses to grow. "A key element here is security assessment," says Ogburn, "because while all businesses today are vulnerable to attack, smaller businesses are particularly vulnerable, and we can help them find and implement the right solutions."

IBM

"Smaller businesses have the same needs, but definitely not the same resources, as large enterprise businesses," says Buell Duncan, "so it's critical that we are smart enough to bring applications and resources down in size in ways that make it easy for them to use technology."

Like Hewlett-Packard, IBM has three legs supporting its strategy. "The key for us to be successful with small businesses is to be smart about packaging, price, and ease of use," says Duncan. But a major difference is in the strategy's focus. Whereas Hewlett-Packard's is centered on self-reliant businesses, IBM relies on its large reseller network to implement its small-business strategy.

The cornerstone of that strategy is the IBM Express Portfolio, which is available to certified resellers. The package is composed of more than 100 scalable hardware, middleware, service, and financing solutions that are designed to be easy to use in small-business environments. IBM has priced them for that market as well, although solutions in the mix can be scaled to serve medium-scale businesses of up to 1,000 employees. That means they can serve your business when it gets that large.

Applications in the IBM Express Portfolio cover a wide range of business types and needs, ranging from medical technology applications to RFID solutions for retailers to supply-chain management for manufacturers, and even more. The growing list also includes helper applications that enable dealers to create and install applications using Oracle, Siebel, PeopleSoft, and other third-party products.

And IBM has even more plans going forward. "We plan to take on two major initiatives," says Duncan. "The first is to develop even more prepackaged applications, delivered either as services or as appliances." Duncan pointed to the company's recent acquisition of Corio, a company that provides hosted services, as a leading indicator of its services-oriented strategy.

Going along with that strategy is Duncan's second play. "We plan to move more services into a subscription-based business model," he says. That's a strategy that some analysts feel benefits both IBM as a provider, because it allows better price control, and its customers, because they can have wider discretion over their use of the services.

Are You Really Surprised?

There is one number cited by Buell Duncan that tells you exactly why companies like his are establishing themselves as strong players in your market. Technology growth in the enterprise sector has slowed to just over five percent. Those of you who have been around the technology business for a while can remember when 20 percent or even 30 percent growth per year in the business sector was not unheard of. Today there are more businesses of your size than there have ever been, and your number is increasing daily. It's likely that the rate of growth will speed up, and the rate of technology acquisition will grow even more. As a result, IBM and Hewlett-Packard are each trying to be your best technology friend, and so are Microsoft, Oracle, and many other big-time players in the technology business. And here at SmartCompany.com, we'll do our best to keep you up to date with everything they are doing.