Things are looking up for SMEs on two fronts: suppliers are
at last looking at ways of helping to improve your business with
specially designed network management packages, while also
improving levels of support. Gary Flood reports.
In basic terms,
SMEs are vital to the economy, eager to find new ways of
competition, and see cost-efficiency as paramount.
These
characteristics should make you of key interest to the technology
industry, especially suppliers of networking equipment and
services. After all, networks, be they local (LAN) or wide or
remote (WAN) offer the chance to share data and applications,
centralise information, and support new sales channels such as the
Internet.
But for various
reasons, if you’re an SME, you’re likely to not be making as much
use of network technology as you could – and you may not even
realise there is a need to manage it properly.
Lionel Lamy,
Research Manager for Information Management Services with research
group IDC, explains the issue, “The problem for the SME is that the
major IT services companies still haven’t figured out a way to work
with companies smaller than the large enterprises. As a result,
they simply don’t get as good a level of service.”
That shouldn’t be
a problem, though. For years smaller companies have turned to
resellers as their key technology partners. The main reason – lack
of in-house knowledge. “Often this level of customer just doesn’t
have any real level of IT skills,” says Jason Salmon, co-founder of
consultancy Imhotek. “They’re happy enough to install and manage
Microsoft Office; beyond that they may find it a bit tricky.”
The potential
problem is that your reseller may not have all the answers
themselves. “Your reseller is often a very entrepreneurial chap who
loves technology. But is he as worried about data integrity,
specifically your data integrity, as you are?” asks Mark Herbert,
founder and director of network consultancy intY.
“There just aren’t
many resellers able to sell the whole package – voice, data,
Internet access, Web and ecommerce support, firewalls and security,
etc,” claims Keith Westcott, UK MD of international voice and data
hosting specialist Via Networks.
Or as IDC’s Lamy
puts it, “By just leaving it to your reseller you may not get told
they have a problem or things could be better organised. That’s not
to say resellers can’t do a good job – they’re often the perfect
match – but they’re not always the right fit for a particular
business’ network management needs. There’s really no black and
white answer to this one.”
Maybe this isn’t a
problem. After all, what could go wrong if you don’t do network
management properly? Quite simply an SME could disappear as a
company, if there’s a disaster with its data and, equally likely,
is that it could be left behind by a competitor that makes better
use of the technology.
Or more
positively: “Done properly, network management will allow you to
predict changes and challenges, and react in a timely way to those
challenges,” claims Nick Watson, Communications and Marketing
Director, Cisco UK and Ireland.
If you ignore the
issue of network management it might turn around and bite you, in
other words. Thomas Howard is Joint Chief Technology Officer and
Executive Officer of North London consultancy Qube Newtorks. “The
network is the foundation of your IT infrastructure – and just as
you can’t see the infrastructure in your house, just rely on it, if
there’s something wrong with that infrastructure you can end up
with all sorts of niggly little problems,” he says.
“I see a lot of
SMEs where the network lives in a neglected wiring cupboard, dust
everywhere, fans broken down – just a mess. Do that and you’re
trying to go hunting with a rifle you’ve washed in mud.”
But who gave you
the gun? The gap between the needs of the smaller companies and the
abilities of their usual partners to support them in the area of
network management is beginning to be noticed. Microsoft’s recently
announced Small Business Server 2003 is specifically aimed at SMEs,
a community the software giant says has been “underserved” by
technology companies. The suite can support up to 50 customers, and
includes a number of wizards it says will help set up in companies
with sparse IT skills.
That’s not to say
that Microsoft is the only answer. In fact choice is part of the
problem in itself, it turns out. Analyst group EuroLAN’s Olivier
Charon notes, “The diversity of companies who fit the category of
SME is only matched by the variety of products.”
Network management
solutions range from specialist ‘lite’ versions of enterprise
software from companies like Nortel Networks, Cisco, 3Com, and
Novell, to best of breed networks built by specialists from a
number of companies to managed service options – if you rent a
managed office from a company like HSO, High Speed Offices, your
network is built in – to completely outsourcing the network
altogether.
Finding
the right partner
Your strategy as
an SME is, it would seem, to immerse yourself in the latest
offerings of WiFi or VoIP and trust your reseller has everything
under control.
It may not be that
stark in reality, but business managers can’t be blamed for feeling
this is an area of technology too far down the stack to worry
about. “It’s the photocopier argument,” says Bob Jones, MD of
Equiinet. “You buy a photocopier, you expect it to work, and when
it goes wrong you want it fixed or replaced quickly. SMEs should be
able to expect the same level of service from their LANs and WANs;
they want a solution they don’t have to worry about. Unfortunately,
I don’t think we’re quite there yet.”
The answer is to
find the right partner and make them worry about it. “The real
reason for having a network at all is just to stop too much paper
flying around. And to manage that network find the right reseller
or provider or consultant to do the hard work for you – someone you
trust, who will do things like source the right diagnostic tools
you won’t have time or skills to do yourself,” suggests John
Coulthard, Head of Small Business for Microsoft UK.
The message is
clear. Your network matters – but you may not have the skills to
know that, let alone manage it. So find someone you can trust and
who has reference sites you can visit of companies like yours. You
can then have a much better idea of how much technology you need or
want, and how much of it you want to let your new chum run for
you.
But as with all
technology, don’t buy if you can’t say why. “Not all SMEs need
networks,” says Cisco’s Watson. ‘It’s important not to run to ICT
as the solution to everything without clear goals as to how it will
help your business.”
Solicitous
response
A small but
expanding professional services firm on the South Coast has
recently beefed up its network with outside help.
Lester Aldridge,
based in Bournemouth and with three offices in the region, is one
of the largest UK regional law firms. Its 300 staff, split into 15
teams in a number of legal areas, now have the benefit of a network
using a combination of fibre optic links and LAN extensions, plus
Citrix network management and virtual private network (VPN) links
to sister companies, all protected by firewalls and other security
technology.
Neil Prevett, head
of IT at the firm, explains that use of IT plays a central role for
Lester Aldridge, from marketing through to accounting. But network
management became an issue following the decision to support the
company’s expansion with means to allow solicitors to exchange and
share data on cases.
He turned to a
local channel partner, Keyfort, which sells security firm SonicWall
technology, to implement firewall solutions. With seven IT staff in
the firm he was never going to do this all himself – but unlike
smaller firms, Lester Aldrdige doesn’t want everything done for
it.
“I’d have been
nervous implementing the network ourselves and security moves so
quickly that it’d be difficult to keep up, so outside expertise in
these areas was vital,” he says.
“Outsourcing is
all well and good, but if I’m responsible for my company’s network
I want to make sure I know what’s going on – and that it doesn’t go
wrong,” he says.
Web links
that matter
Microsoft’s small
business portal,
www.bcentral.co.uk, has
some useful links, imcluding this,
www.bcentral.co.uk/fulfilment/FreeBCCGuide.asp
a free 35-page Guide To Technology aimed at the smaller business
produced in partnership for the British Chamber of Commerce
BT’s small
business site is at
http://www.bt.com/business
http://www.3com.com
http://www.novell.com
www.nortelnetworks.com/solutions/smb/
http://www.qube-networks.co.uk
http://www.inty.net #
http://www.equiinet.com
http://www.vianetworks.com
http://www.imhotek.com
http://www.highspeedoffice.net
Networking
the Owls
You wouldn’t
necessarily categorise Sheffield Wednesday Football Club as a small
to medium-sized enterprise – until you think about how its ‘goal’
is not just about keeping the football team itself as high up
Division 2 as it can, but how it’s also a business serving a
40,000-seat entertainment centre with all the associated
merchandising.
That centre – its
famous Hillsborough stadium, pictured below – is now the focus of a
new Cisco-based wireless local area network that’s linking
executive and sales staff in a new ‘playing formation’. The system
means better intra-club communication between offices as well as
the training ground and a new study centre for local youth.
“Previously, we had to phone, fax or pigeonhole another member of
the team on the other side of the club – now we can communicate
instantly,” says Steve Chu, Sheffield Wednesday’s Communications
Manager.
“Another big
benefit is real-time data on stock and sales levels in the shop and
for tickets, which saves us a lot of time and increases efficiency.
It’s all about us stopping working in isolation and getting more
connected.”
Phil Cracknell,
Head of Consultancy CISSP, says: “The network can stand alone and
is robust enough to be managed perfectly well by the club’s own IT
staff. They now have just one network to manage.”
Eventually, the
club aims to layer both voice over IP and closed circuit TV feeds
over IP, and beyond that offer Owls fans an Internet connection via
their PDAs and telephones while inside the ground for exclusive
replay and match information.
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