I have to wonder why large software companies struggle engage effectively with small businesses and the the current battle between Google and Microsoft is a good example of this. Microsoft describes Office 365 as productivity applications and Google describes Google Apps as communication and collaboration tools. Visit the web pages for both these services and you will find descriptions of IT related benefits and features and of choice of device, of access anywhere, anyhow and anytime.
But when you speak to a small business owner their eyes start to glaze over when you try to be passionate about email and realtime collaboration. It's not that they are dismissive but its not something that is in their vocabulary and it does not give them a blood rush. And let's remember that Australian small businesses almost never have a dedicated internal IT person.
If this wasn't bad enough start talking about "the cloud" and now you have really lost them. And this is at the heart of why small business uptake of cloud services has not lived up to expectations beyond the early adopters. The early adopters get this whole cloud thing so its preaching to the converted. However mainstream small business owners simply do not get that excited about technology, not when they are struggling to deal with challenges such as increased competition, rising costs and interest rates to name but just a few. Just telling them about "productivity" or "collaborative" tools is just going to cut it.
And this is a tragedy because Google Apps is perfect for small businesses provided we can start talking to them in their language. A recent assignment I completed with a small Australian business with 12 full time employees is a good example of this. Migrating their email to Google Apps was not seen to be a big thing after all it is just email. Ok Google Talk and Google Docs was useful too but not earth shattering for them.
It was only when they started using Google Docs did it become more clear to them that the collaborative features of Google Apps would significantly help them get their customer quotes better managed. Whereas they had to email each other to work though revisions to a quote done correctly for a customer now everyone was working on the same up-to-date version of the quote.
It also quickly twigged that simply creating and sharing the spreadsheet which they use to track material shipments in Google Docs would give everyone up-to-date status on where everything was. And all this was done using standard Google Docs.
And just as quickly, they soon started to explore the business applications available on Google Apps Marketplace and are now looking to select and implement a simple CRM application. Google Apps Marketplace is a hidden gem for small business owners. Not only does it make it easy and simple to find relevant applications, they can try it out before buying all in one place.
Solving business problems is the language that small business owners understand and appreciate. Google Apps is the underlying foundation and piping that enables them to get on with addressing their business process problems. Google and its partners do a really good job of helping them migrate to Google Apps taking care of all the technical issues but it is identifying and solving their business pain that is going to get them interested enough to look at Google Apps.
And this is a tragedy because Google Apps is perfect for small businesses provided we can start talking to them in their language. A recent assignment I completed with a small Australian business with 12 full time employees is a good example of this. Migrating their email to Google Apps was not seen to be a big thing after all it is just email. Ok Google Talk and Google Docs was useful too but not earth shattering for them.
It was only when they started using Google Docs did it become more clear to them that the collaborative features of Google Apps would significantly help them get their customer quotes better managed. Whereas they had to email each other to work though revisions to a quote done correctly for a customer now everyone was working on the same up-to-date version of the quote.
It also quickly twigged that simply creating and sharing the spreadsheet which they use to track material shipments in Google Docs would give everyone up-to-date status on where everything was. And all this was done using standard Google Docs.
And just as quickly, they soon started to explore the business applications available on Google Apps Marketplace and are now looking to select and implement a simple CRM application. Google Apps Marketplace is a hidden gem for small business owners. Not only does it make it easy and simple to find relevant applications, they can try it out before buying all in one place.
Solving business problems is the language that small business owners understand and appreciate. Google Apps is the underlying foundation and piping that enables them to get on with addressing their business process problems. Google and its partners do a really good job of helping them migrate to Google Apps taking care of all the technical issues but it is identifying and solving their business pain that is going to get them interested enough to look at Google Apps.
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