Ready for an IT Specialist?
Author: Scott Davidson
July 2007
If you’re like most entrepreneurs, at some point in your company’s development, you’ll begin to feel as if you no longer are running your computers but your computers are running you. That’s a sign that you may need to develop a business relationship with an IT specialist.
Fortunately, in communities all across America, experts in computer technology have established their own entrepreneurships as Microsoft Small-Business Specialists. Because they are small-business owners themselves, they have a keen understanding of the special needs of other small businesses; and they can provide software designed especially for small-business operations.
Small-business specialists are a professional resource and a trusted corps of advisors, much like your attorney or your accountant. They offer technology advice to help you decide on the best solution for your particular company. They also provide support and service, so that in times of rapid expansion or an emergency, they are on your team, thoroughly understand the technology in your company, and are ready to keep you up and running. They’re focused strictly on small businesses, so they have insight into how best to apply your technology to your needs for sales, marketing, service offerings, production and other areas. They are experts in matching your company’s business needs with the right technology.
Microsoft Small-Business Specialists also can help you get the most from the technology you’re using, and ensure that you are employing best practices in the way you use your software. Best practices ensure that you are operating your computers and applications at full efficiency.
The Microsoft Small-Business Specialist is a highly experienced resource. First, they focus specifically on the needs of small businesses. Just as you’d select an orthopedist, rather than a dentist, if you had a broken leg, you should select a technology partner who is trained and experienced in your type of business. Second, the SMB Nation study reported that 97 percent of small-business specialists are small-business operators themselves. They can help you develop the technical vision for your company and advise you on business techniques. Finally, Microsoft Small-Business Specialists are local technology partners. They’re just minutes away when you need them, and they understand the local marketplace in which your business operates.
Microsoft Small-Business Partners gain technical competency in a number of ways. They study and complete any of three different types of exams. One is for system builders, individuals who put together PCs, to ensure they provide for the most efficient operation. The second is an all-purpose exam for a range of small-business capabilities, testing knowledge of servers, Microsoft Exchange (employed for e-mail and calendaring), SQL Server (for databases) and other solutions. The third type of exam is for the new Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 application that enables businesses to build collaboration tools through an intranet site. SharePoint Services 3.0 also serves as a platform on which to build other Microsoft-based solutions. For example, it enables solutions to improve workflow so that files can be posted to a Web site for approval or feedback from all involved, rather than a series of e-mail attachments.
When your specialist is a member of the Microsoft Partner Program, you gain a number of advantages. For instance, a Microsoft Small-Business Specialist may have been working with early versions of Vista for months or even a year before the new operating system was released to the general market. That means he or she understands Windows Vista thoroughly when installing it on your computers and already has developed best practices for adapting it to your business.
With this understanding of your company, your specialist can help you make the most of your computer systems, increasing your efficiencies and extending your capabilities, for example, to mobile phones, where you can receive and send e-mail if your company is equipped with Windows Small Business Server 2003 technology. The specialist can help you find other specialists in specific technologies like customer relationship management or software development and even can help you gain financing for $3,000 or more in hardware, software and/or tech services through a Microsoft program for small businesses. Often your initial consultation with a specialist is free, and it may open up entire new avenues to profitability that you had not previously anticipated.
Finding a Microsoft Small-Business Specialist in your community is easy. Simply go to www.microsoft.com/smallbusiness, enter your ZIP Code, hit the Enter key and you immediately receive a complete list of specialists with their phone numbers and Web site links. Click on the partner’s name and you can view a brief description of the company’s specialties and its phone number.
Microsoft Small-Business Specialists help businesses like yours meet their needs with technical solutions, drive efficiencies and extend capabilities. Your Microsoft Small-Business Specialist is likely to become one of your most important business partners and to play a key role in your future success.
About the Author: Scott Davidson is the Heartland Area General Manager for Microsoft’s Small and Mid-market Solutions and Partners (SMS&P) group, which consists of Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee.
