What do small businesses want from IT?

Small businesses – by this I mean those under 25 people in size - want to have access to enterprise-class Information Technology systems. They want the productivity benefits and the ability to generate more in the way of business results without having to hire more people. This a major mechanism through which this size business plans to expand and grow.

The usual challenge is that they cannot:
-afford to purchase, install and configure these systems
-afford to maintain and administrate them on an on-going basis

Both of these areas require money and expertise (resources) that this size of business can rarely afford. Their business just is not large enough to handle this expense within normal operational cash flow and/or balance sheet debt (leasing). Thankfully a new breed of solution has arrived in the last year or so. Reliable and mature enough to provide the enterprise-grade solutions sought by these smaller businesses.

Utility Computing. Small, and even medium sized, businesses can now treat their IT systems much like any other utility – paying for exactly what they use. These solutions involve renting the software on a monthly basis per person. The entire desktop operating system as well as the office productivity suite can be rented. Technical helpdesk is usually included in the monthly fee too.

What do companies get out of adopting this?
-Predictable monthly fees
-IT technical support included in the price
-Paying for exactly what systems and software they use (can even rent the hardware)
-Fixed costs are defrayed over the multiple Customers of the Utility Computing provider
-Ability to focus on fulfilling the needs of their own customers and growing their own business