Similar to many of its IT counterparts, Intel Corp. believes the best way to approach small and medium businesses in the North American market is through its reseller community.
That’s why the chipmaker recently launched a year-long campaign to support small businesses through its 40,000 product
dealers, resellers and integrators in the Intel Product Dealer Program which sell into this market segment. That number represents one-third of all of Intel’s channel.
“”By leveraging 40,000 (resellers) we’re able to touch hundreds of thousands of small businesses,”” said Steve Dallman, senior director of North American channel and distribution at Intel. “”We’re saying, ‘What can we do to make this easier to help (resellers) approach small business and understand their needs.'””
Called the Intel Channel Small Business Solutions Campaign, which launched on Oct. 11 at the Intel Channel Conference in Seattle, its aim is threefold: Help resellers educate small business on benefits attained through technology; teach them new ways to reach and segment the market; and show them how to build hardware and software solutions, both Intel-based and non-Intel-based, that are customized for small business.
Campaign activities also include reseller educational activities such as a new Intel Channel Conference course and brochures and presentations that resellers can use to educate small businesses on technology benefits in their core business areas.
New way of looking at SMB
While Intel and other large IT companies has always supported small business, said Dallman, they seldom, if ever, have tried to think like one.
“”They’ve talked about their technology, the bits and bytes and how fast it runs, but very few of them have actually sat down and said, ‘If I were a small business, how would I be making my decisions and what’s really important to me?’
“”Very few of them. I can guarantee Intel hasn’t approached this market and sat down and talked to (resellers).””
75 million SMBs worldwide
According to Small Business Technology Institute (SBTI), one of several consulting firms that Intel worked with in preparation for the campaign launch, there are more than 75 million small businesses worldwide that account for three times the growth rate (or 13.3 per cent) in annual IT spending than that of large business.
“”That’s a significant amount of growth and opportunity,”” said Dallman.
SBTI forecasts the North American small business annual IT spending to grow from US$80 billion in Q4 2003 to US$140 billion by 2008. Dallman said demand is being fueled by aging or out-of-warranty computers that will eventually need to be replaced, creating an “”accelerated opportunity”” for resellers.
SBTI also found that there are five areas – marketing, office productivity, operations, finance and management – that SMBs are worrying about.
“”He’s not worrying about his Web server, wireless connectivity, or how fast his broad channel link is,”” said Dallman.
With this in mind, Intel “”threw quite a bit of money,”” said Dallman, to come up with a tool to help resellers profile a small business to determine what their business needs are and how technology can be used to solve them. The Intel Small Business Technology Assessment and Resolution Tool is an automated tool to help resellers segment small business customers, identify their technology sophistication level, and provide solution guidance.
And the solutions aren’t necessarily Intel’s. “”It may be Cisco. It may say Microsoft,”” said Dallman, adding Intel has alliance programs with 45 hardware and 200 software vendors.
Merging SMB and resellers
Michelle Warren, an analyst at Toronto-based research firm Evans Research Corp., said the campaign is an extension of Intel’s existing programs. “”(Intel) has always supported small businesses and they’ve always supported the reseller channel. This is really merging the two areas.””
Warren added that SMBs know about technology but aren’t always early adopters for various reasons including finances and education.
The campaign will roll into Toronto and Montreal after stops in Vancouver and Calgary.