In the past 12 to 18 months, software vendors have launched major initiatives and press events to publicize their goal of carving out a major piece of the SMB market. SMB software leaders such as Intuit and Best Software have their revenue growth strategy pegged for expansion into industry-specific and horizontal applications. Microsoft bought its way into the business applications market. Even enterprise-oriented vendors like SAP have an aggressive SMB and midmarket strategy with already deployed solutions.
Most vendors build their SMB strategies around three demand-side premises: (1) end users are outgrowing their current software (2) SMBs need to integrate disparate applications (3) companies are looking for applications specific to their industry.
Results from the 2003 SMB Applications and Web Survey indicate that these vendors are on the right track. However, purchase drivers and selection criteria vary by SMB segment. Clearly, vendors need to target their marketing messages to the appropriate SMB segment. Vendors that have existing relationships with SMBs will have an edge.
The data presented in this report is sourced from our 2003 Group Small and Medium Business (SMB) Applications and Web Survey.
We define SMBs as businesses with 2 to 499 employees: - Very small businesses (VSBs) have 2 to 19 employees. - Small businesses (SBs) have 20 to 99 employees. - Medium businesses (MBs) have 100 to 499 employees. - This study was a Web-based survey of 600 SMB decision-makers of business and Web applications.
