SAAS FOR SMBS
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the major hypervisors. “Reseller partners are already playing a key role in advising customers on SaaS and cloud services and as customer usage grows, the partner gets more involved in helping them build and develop their approach. Customer needs will continue to change, and partners will also need to keep their skills and capabilities up to date as technologies advance. “As a result, the greater interdependency between the SMB customer and partners that we’ve seen because of higher levels of cloud adoption will continue. The opportunities for partners to grow their SaaS and cloud revenues will also continue to grow.” Chris adds that resellers can influence and direct customers – but they need to have a clear message to take to market to do so. “That’s where vendors can help to give them clear guidance on state of market first!” he says. “Then, they can take those threads and cut through the noise to deliver a real solution to the market. “The main goal of any SaaS solution is to make the lives of SMBs easier. Today, SMBs use many productivity tools, so to ensure they are all running smoothly and protected, they need one source of truth in their SaaS solution to provide those offerings.” Paul adds that resellers, as trusted advisors, are crucial for helping SMBs find the right SaaS solutions. “Also assisting with implementation and customisation, bridging the gap between technology and business needs,” he says. “Moreover, resellers offer additional capabilities through the intellectual property they have developed themselves and/or via third party marketplace solutions. Resellers are also shifting to advisory roles - 63% of channel
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partners are motivated to transition to an advisory roles because of their desire to build stronger relationships with customers.” Anthony adds that distributors like Arrow are important to bridge the gap between resellers, SaaS providers and SMB customers. “Distributors provide the expertise and help to navigate the SaaS solutions that best meet the unique requirements of SMBs,” he says. “Platforms such as ArrowSphere Cloud make it easier for resellers to customise, provision and manage the full SaaS lifecycle. Ongoing support and training also ensure that SMBs can make the most of their SaaS investments.” Components of solutions But what should go into an ideal SaaS solution for a SMB? There are various facets that should be included, according to Joe. “A SaaS sales solution for SMBs should include a user-friendly interface, competitive pricing with flexible payment options, scalability to grow with the business, strong security measures, accessible and responsive customer support, customisation and integration options, and high performance and reliability to ensure business continuity and efficiency,” he says. “SaaS solution providers should work with a business to improve their systems and increase productivity as well as making it easier and more attractive for end users to engage with and buy from the company.” Paul notes that a good SaaS solution for SMBs should be: “scalable, affordable, user-friendly, secure and backed by strong customer support. “Important features include real-time data analytics, mobile access and automatic updates. It’s also essential that the solution has a strong vision for the future, provided by a vendor committed to continuous innovation. That commitment will ensure that the SaaS solution will evolve with the latest advancements and continue to grow and scale with the evolving needs of SMBs.”
Distributors provide the expertise and help to navigate the
SaaS solutions that best meet the unique requirements of SMBs.
”
Stephen Green sales director, EMEA
Ritchie Butters EMEA business director
Mike Barron managing director
synaxon-services.com
netwrix.com
8x8.com
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