Small Business Solutions
by Dennis Furlan

Written for the California Small Business Association

For small businesses, it’s often hard to know where to go for help with your technology needs. Adding to the problem is the fact that many of these technology issues are addressed, to some extent or another, by big national corporations: Microsoft, Dell, AT&T, and so on.

While it might be easy to assume that these big businesses don’t really care about small businesses, there is some hope. Many of these big technology companies are trying to cater to the technological needs of small business.

These efforts range from specific product offerings and bundled packages to more managed services and forms of personalized help. We have selected 10 programs. It’s a wide-ranging list. Some of these programs are offered by well-known technology companies like Microsoft and Dell. A few of them you might not so easily associate with technology for small business. One or two you may not even have heard of.

Sid Kato is the CEO of Array Systems Inc, an IT consulting firm in Los Angeles. He believes that large technology companies can address specific needs for small business. He said, “If you already know that you’re looking for Microsoft SharePoint, then Microsoft does a very good job of giving you exactly that.”

For Kato, however, where a company like Microsoft might have some difficulty is with knowing that you need something like SharePoint. That’s where consulting firms like his might come in, for example. Yet Kato also suggested that what big companies can’t address, nor can he always provide, is inward analysis that small businesses should do regarding their specific technological needs.

He said, “The costliest mistake that many businesses make is not assessing their own companies when getting new technology. So, they don’t ask the right questions of vendors, and they can end up having to spend a lot of money replacing what they got in the first place.”

How We Rated the Programs
We used four criteria in reviewing these web sites and programs. The following is a list of those criteria, accompanied by a brief explanation of how they were applied to the programs selected for our list.

Small Business Offering: In a nutshell, what kinds of products and services does this company provide for small business? With Microsoft, it’s mostly software. With Dell, it’s mostly computer-related product. You get the idea. Some companies in the list might surprise you in how they address the technology demands of small business. That’s why they were chosen.

What’s Free: Basically, what goodwill gestures do these companies provide to small businesses that come with as few strings attached as possible? Ideally, this free stuff comprises informational resources related to running a small business: how-to articles, informational videos, and related material. A bit less ideally, this stuff comes with some strings attached, like telling you what products and services you can buy from the company in order to help your business. It’s what we call the infomercial approach to free offerings.

Personalized Help: To what extent do these companies allow you to get help that’s specific to you? Given the various types of companies included in our list, the way in which they approach personalization varies, too. For example, All Covered is a national IT consulting company, so much of their service is personalized. On the other hand, UPS essentially allows you to do your own personalization by pointing and clicking to a wide range of options.

Bottom Line: What does a small business get by dealing with this company or organization for their technological needs, especially in relation to other options? Do you get deals if you buy a lot of their product? Do they offer a one-stop portal for shopping at their site? Do you have to pay extra to get extra care? These are the kinds of questions we asked when assessing the primary value that these offerings have to small businesses in California.

We also added another small category to the reviews for your reference:

Similar Program(s) : These are similar programs available in the same category as the company being reviewed. So, if we reviewed a computer company, then we tried to provide links to other computer companies that have programs for small businesses.

Program Summaries

Microsoft Small Business Center
Pros: Pretty good free resources, good software and products for small business.
Con: Has an infomercial feel to free stuff.
Bottom line: The more you buy from the Microsoft Small Business Center, the more you save.
Read the full review or visit the program.

AT&T Small Business
Pro: Offers products, services, and bundles specific to a region like California.
Con: Regional setup can lead to confusion when browsing site.
Bottom line: Get one account for your telecommunications needs, which can save you time and money.
Read the full review or visit the program.

UPS Technology and Your Small Business
Pro: Point and click your way to the products and services right for your small business.
Con: Nice videos, but they’re infomercials.
Bottom line: Get specific shipping technology to work for you, especially if it involves high-volume customers.
Read the full review or visit the program.

Xerox for Small and Medium Business
Pro: Really nice free resources.
Con: Lots of stuff for bigger businesses on the site, too. Be careful.
Bottom line: Nice portal for small business, especially if you like deals and free goodwill resources.
Read the full review or visit the program.

Best Buy for Business
Pro: Specific voice and data services are divided into home and general business categories.
Con: No free stuff.
Bottom line: Basically, get Speakeasy managed communications services through the Best Buy brand.
Read the full review or visit the program.

Dell Small & Medium Business
Pros: Customized picking and choosing of components for Dell small business computer products. Good resource page for small business, too.
Con: Nothing much more fancier than that.
Bottom line: If you like Dell, this is the place to buy their products for small business.
Read the full review or visit the program.

Symantec Small & Mid-Sized Business
Pro: Good offering of software that “manages” a component of your computer system for you.
Con: Some of the more personalized services appear geared towards larger businesses.
Bottom line: Symantec is good at IT security. You can tap into that expertise through this portal.
Read the full review or visit the program.

BusinessWeek Small Business Technology & Telecom
Pro: Excellent one-stop shopping resource for small business technology.
Con: Doesn’t actually provide technology to small business.
Bottom line: If you like to make your own small business technology decisions, this place gives you the option to do just that.
Read the full review or visit the program.

Amazon Web Services
Pro: Use Amazon’s web expertise and technology for your business.
Con: You or someone in your company needs some developer skills to use this.
Bottom line: If you want to build your own small business web applications, you can do that right here, and save by using Amazon’s platform.
Read the full review or visit the program.

All Covered: Technology Services Partner for Small Business
Pro: Nice blend of goodwill and infomercial type free stuff.
Con: You’ll have to pay a fee for that consulting, of course.
Bottom line: The power of a national company offered in a regional consulting office near you.
Read the full review or visit the program.

About the Author
Dennis Furlan is a freelance writer. You can visit his web site at http://www.wordhunter.com/.