Beware bullying IT vendors
Industry experts are warning small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to take charge of their information technology (IT) needs, and not allow vendors to dictate to them.
Many firms are targeting SMEs in search of new revenue streams, and some vendors are duping small business owners into believing that failure to implement their IT offerings will render their businesses less productive.
Steven Cohen, the managing director of Softline Pastel, said this week that complex or unusable IT products and services would not insulate SMEs against the tough economic conditions brought on by rising interest rates.
"In a difficult environment, when you’re frantically looking for a way to save your business, it’s easy to be browbeaten into thinking mobile technology, software or an enterprise resource planning solution is going to turn your business around," said Cohen.
Lindsey McDonald, a Frost & Sullivan technology analyst, said the small, micro and medium enterprise (SMME) market was becoming important for IT vendors as they looked for new areas of growth.
He said that despite the rising importance of this market, there were still many vendors that had not effectively tailored their service offerings for this sector, and offered one-size-fits-all solutions.
"As a result, SMMEs are often faced with a choice of ill-fitting solutions that do not properly meet their requirements," McDonald said. "SMMEs should realise the value of the market segment they represent and demand solutions specifically formulated for their requirements."
Cohen suggested that for SMEs to avoid "dancing to the tune of IT vendors", they should get easy- to-install, easy-to-use solutions that were designed with a small business in mind.
He said the responsibility for technology-enabling SMEs lay with the IT vendors. "It’s arrogant and disrespectful for IT vendors to expect customers to skill up to use their offerings. That’s why I always advise SMEs to make the vendor do the work. Get what you want, not what the vendor wants you to have."
On the contrary, Arthur Goldstuck, the managing director at IT and telecoms research firm World Wide Worx, said he did not think the average SME could be bullied into buying IT that had not been proved. Firms were more likely to go with what was cost effective. "The high-pressure sales tactics are unlikely to work for SMEs, as they want a clear value proposition and reason to invest in the technology."
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