Overview of the SMB Marketplace

8/4/2019 Overview of the SMB Marketplace

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2008 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. SMBAM v2.01-1

Overview of theSMB Marketplace

Cisco Solutions for the SMB Customer Segment


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The SMB Marketplace


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Our Small and Medium BusinessCommitment

An existing $2 billioninvestment, which will continueover the next two years, will helpstrengthen our portfolio of SMBClass solutions, enhance our

award-winning channel partnerprograms, and help buildawareness about the role ofnetworking solutions in SMBsuccess.John Chambers, President and CEO of

Cisco Systems(April 2004)


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Snapshot of Todays Global Select PartnersSelling to SMBs

Average time in business: 13.8 Years

Average number of locations: 2.6

Average size of business:


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Top Nine Reasons Partners Choose a Vendor

1. Technology relevance to my customers

2. New/better technology

3. Desire to increase profitability by better margin

4. Vendor business support/investment5. Ability to upsell

6. Desire to address a new business segment

7. The existing product set

8. Higher services component

9. New product launches

Source: CMP Channel Group


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Understanding the Market

Jocelyn Faust, analyst at Gartner, notes that to succeedin the SMB space, vendors must answer the followingSMB concerns:

Will it save money? Faust maintains that the IT projects that "save

money are the projects that get funded. Will it work with existing equipment? Investment protection is

critical in the SMB space, says Faust. If it's plug-and-play, it'smore likely to be adopted.

Will it grow with the business? Small and medium-sized

businesses tend to envision business growth and want to knowthe technology will grow with them.

Do you understand my business? SMBs contend their needs arevery different from enterprises and want to be sure the vendor orreseller understands their unique demands.


7/17 2008 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. SMBAM v2.01-7

The SMB Challenge

Security?

CustomerService?

Resources?

Expansion?

EmployeeFlexibility?

Productivity?

DisasterRecovery?

Oh,and I must

buy the wifea birthday

card!



Top SMB Challenges

PainPoints Operational

Efficiency

InvestmentProtection

Securing BusinessAssets

Lack ofResources

CompetitivePressure

Solution: Converged network Simple to deploy

Easy to manage Highly available

Solution: Leverage existing

investments

Simple migration Enables future growth

Solution:Self Defending Network

Solution:

Smart, simple, secureinfrastructure Integrated applications Higher productivity

Solution: Lower total cost of

ownership Improved customer

responsiveness Faster time to market

Source: Cisco Focus Groups CY2005



Technology and Business Expertise

Top Reasons SMB Customers Choose Partners:

Technical expertise

High level of customer interaction and service (relationship)

Understanding of end-customer's business

Experience with technology

Cost (product/service price)

Ability to provide ongoing technical support/help desk

Strategic business expertise




Top Tips

Understand your customer and their business

If you understand their business problems, then you can identifyproduct features that will change their business

Diagnose the problem, before you prescribe a solution

Listen and qualify, and be patient; if you pitch too early, youcould bore the customer and switch them off

Find the customers need, driver, and pain and build anappropriate value proposition

Without these, the customer has the option to do nothing

The more value you establish, the quicker the customer willbuy and the less inclined they will be to ask for discount



bMightyResearch Report:SMB and Unified Communications

Overview:

60% of respondents understood Unified Communications (UC)solutions

SMB not yet convinced of need for UC

SMB decision makers on fence about UC technology versuslegacy systems

Most SMB decision makers like existing telephony vendors

UC likely for salespeople and executives first

General education efforts needed on UC

Source: bMightyResearch Report on Unified Communications, Spring 2008



Five Main UC Pain Points

1. Moving from PBX to IP Telephony and incorporating UnifiedCommunications solutions.

2. Upgrading is a nightmare...and typically requires a certifiedindividual to complete all of the changes.

3. VoIP integration [challenges] and support with remote offices.

4. Not happy about upgrade costs for software features.

5. No access to VoIP due to poor quality internet access.

Source: bMightyResearch Report on Unified Communications, Spring 2008



Partner Business Challenges/Trends

What are some of the business challenges some of youare seeing today? What keeps partners up at night?

How do I stay relevant to my end customer?

Which new technologies should I bet on?

How do I acquire new customers?

Where do I find the right technical and services sales people?

How do I find more time in the day to be strategic about growingmy business?




A Common Sales Situation Today

Partner TechnicalDecision Maker BusinessDecision Maker

ProposesCisco

TooExpensive

Positionsalternatives

Missing link tobusiness

challenges

MissingRelevance to

business

challenges



Small and Medium Business Challenges

Customer Responsiveness Enhanced customer service

Flexible channel and delivery options

Operational Efficiency

Do more with less Improve business processes

Access real-time business information

Cost Containment

Improved business models, lower cost

structure Ease adoption of new applications and

services without incurring costly upgrades

Security

Data security

Regulatory compliance



Business Strategy

Early engagement= higher $$$ sale

SBR Approach

Product DrivenTactical Approach

Compete on price= low $ sale

Business Solutions

Technologies

Products

Business Decision Value Chain


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Q&A

Overview of the SMB Marketplace

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