D&H to educate VARs on small business pain points 15 November, 2009 By Mark Cox

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The small business space is still growing, although that is in part because new companies have been founded by personnel who were recently laid-off. D&H saw a double-digit increase in its SMB business in September, and another 29% in October. And D&H has identified several areas in different vertical markets that present opportunities for resellers to solve the SMB owner's latest dilemmas.

Our focus has always come from the same question: 'How can we help VARs be more successful?' We're looking to go beyond what the typical distributor provides, and counsel our resellers about the solutions that are most helpful to today's small business proprietor," said Dan Schwab, co-president at D&H Distributing.

D&H believes factors will motivate more businesses to undertake a technology refresh. The launch of Microsoft's Windows 7 OS is a major one. Another factor that may contribute to new IT spending at small companies, especially those who do federal contracting: More than $1 out of every $4 spent on federal Recovery Act contracts (or roughly $4 billion) in the U.S. has gone to small businesses, creating an influx of revenues for these fortunate companies. If VARs can recognize and address the particular needs of these small businesses, now that they're positioned to spend, D&H thinks those VARs can take advantage of a rare opportunity.

Ten years ago, D&H functioned as a provider of point products, which resellers leveraged to assemble more valuable systems. The distributor's VAR customers were more white-box oriented, selling one-off products piece-by-piece, as opposed to favoring branded solutions. In the past five years, D&H helped to move its customer base toward an overall solutions-focused sales strategy, wherein resellers concentrated on more profitable turn-key systems, including brand-name equipment from higher-tier manufacturers. As 2010 approaches, D&H will shift strategies again, encouraging its resellers to continue to drill-down to a more granular level in their sales approaches, pinpointing the troubles that have arisen in small business environments and resolving those difficulties through technology.

""If we examine the very immediate problems that have developed this year, then VARs can essentially 'backfill' the deficits their small business clients' infrastructures have experienced while they waited for the economy to reestablish itself," Scwab said. "This could mean helping them with code compliances, adding green efficiencies, finding a way to create a better message through digital signage, and many other scenarios."

D&H has recognized several SMB "Pain Points" in the following areas, which will create potential opportunities for VARs in 2010, while being central to D&H's trainings, marketing, and sales strategies:

Storage -- electronic vs. paper archiving: Small offices are realizing the benefits of converting to all-electronic records, whether it's to help them reduce lower-level administrative personnel, create an electronically-searchable system, or lessen the number of physical file cabinets and use of paper in their offices. Document management and storage solutions used for this purpose will also help healthcare offices meet HIPAA mandates for electronic records conversion.

VoIP adoption: A global study by research firm SIS International revealed that roughly 60% of SMBs still don't currently use a unified communications solution. VoIP promises increased productivity, plus cost-savings on carrier services and cabling, which address the current market call for ROI. D&H's VoIP Solutions Specialists can help VARs devise unified communications systems to meet their customers' needs.

Mobility: Telecommuting continues to be a dominant trend, and shows itself to be especially pertinent when unexpected developments like the H1N1 virus encourage more workers to stay home. Advances in netbooks, unlocked smartphones, GSM (Global System for Mobile communications), WiFi and wireless security all help the small business CEO better manage a complex mobile workforce.

Infrastructure/network security: According to 2007 study from data networking analyst Infonetics, SMB companies could lose up to half a percent of their annual revenue to security-related downtime, which can translate to hundreds of thousands of dollars per year. As secure, robust and versatile infrastructures become more critical to SMB success, D&H predicts that networking, server and security solutions that deliver enterprise-level functionality will continue to warrant spending of precious SMB dollars.

Data back-up: The conversion to all-electronic records begs for secure, hassle-free data back-up. In fact, failure to back-up data is one of the "Top 5 Financial Mistakes" made by SMBs, according to America's Best Companies, an SMB support organization. USB-based back-up systems have hit the market that promise easy, ongoing, plug-and-play data redundancy with little user intervention.

The insurance vertical -- digital imaging/storage: The latest tech trend at insurance companies is the use of digital photography to document claim damage. This not only creates a demand for digital imaging products, but also builds a need for adequate storage and archiving.

The healthcare vertical -- HIPAA compliance: Many small practices still don't completely know how to achieve electronic records conversion. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) has put forth a new set of HIPAA requirements, with a compliance deadline of February 2010. VARs who develop a plan to help small practitioners satisfy this transition can gain the trust, and sales revenues, of independent healthcare offices.

Efficient, green technologies: Small organizations are opening their checkbooks more frequently for products that create efficiencies in their businesses. Conservation, while noble, also saves financial resources. D&H allows VARs to search for power-efficient products via its "green" web refinement tool, spotlighting thousands of eco-friendly offerings from trusted manufacturers.

Digital signage: Small companies are often faced with the challenge of switching promotions and messages quickly in a competitive marketplace. Small form-factor PCs are being combined with versatile digital signage solutions for this function, creating a trim enough footprint to eliminate the need for wiring to a network of larger PCs in a back-office. Infinitely changeable, less complicated, and more compact signage can satisfy this small business pain point.

"An economic recovery period is a very distinct point in time" said Schwab. "We want our resellers to know what products will work for their customers, in order to capitalize on uncommon advantages that may come out of these circumstances."