AT YOUR SERVICE: XaaS and troubleshooting, adopting or migrating to the service, and training staff tied with selecting the service. Nearly a quarter of those surveyed (24 percent) indicated that purchasing the service is usually difficult. Even so, more than half (56 percent) of SMBs strongly agree that they’re getting good ROI from the investments they make in business technology. But SMBs that use technology advisors are more likely to agree that they get good ROI from their business technology investments compared to those that don’t use technology advisors. Using outside professional assistance for adoption and migration also increases the likelihood of achieving good ROI, with 96 percent of those that do agreeing or strongly agreeing that they see good ROI for their investment in business technology. Perhaps this is not surprising. “Unlike large enterprises, SMBs often lack the IT staff, skills and experience, time and budget to deploy technology within their business and drive user adoption of the new technology,” said the AppSmart report. “Without guidance and assistance from external partners such as technology advisors, it can be difficult for SMBs to maximize the value they get from new software to achieve a good return on investment.” Indeed, small SMBs are less likely (47 percent) to strongly agree that they achieved good ROI from their business technology investments, while medium (62 percent) and large (61 percent) companies are more likely to strongly agree. Incidentally, those that aren’t using any SaaS applications are more likely to disagree (29 percent) that they get good ROI, with only 5 percent agreeing that they get good ROI from their technology investments. The survey also found that SMBs experiencing certain pain points are more likely to disagree that they see a satisfactory ROI from there technology investment. The difficulties that are most likely to negatively affect perceptions of a return include issues with ongoing management, maintenance and troubleshooting, migration and the solution selection process. In turn, two-thirds of SMBs use professional assistance for adoption or migration of new software, and those that do use professional assistance are more likely to agree that they see good ROI from their business technology. SMBs also report to “spending too much time” dealing with multiple SaaS suppliers. Nearly three-quarters (70 percent) of SMBs believe that their company spends more time than they should interacting with SaaS vendors and processing invoices because they use multiple SaaS suppliers. In 2017, 66 percent said they wanted to consolidate their cloud services purchases to have only one vendor to deal with. One of the drivers for this was having everything on one bill for easier invoice management. SaaS vendors and solution providers also shouldn’t be surprised if they encounter reluctance among SMB buyers to quickly pull the trigger on a new solution. During the uncertainty of the pandemic, SMBs were forced to rapidly make changes and deployment decisions without undergoing normal levels of due diligence. And according to the Wakefield Research survey, 52 percent of SMBs said they made SaaS investments in response to the pandemic that ended up not being a good fit for their businesses. It sounds like more SMBs could use the help of technology advisors and partners that understand not only the technology their selling but the needs of the business they are selling to. o Which of these aspects of using a new SaaS solution, if any, are usually difficult for your company? Maintenance and troubleshooting 34% Adopting or migrating to the service 33% Training staff on using the new service 32% Selecting the service 32% Ongoing management 29% Purchasing the service 24% None of these are difficult for us 16% Source: Wakefield Research; AppSmart Contributing Factors to Ensure Positive Growth in 2022 Source: CompTIA For Those with these difficulties... Source: Wakefield Research; AppSmart In 2021, picking up business from existing customers to ped the list of growth factors needed for the coming year Don’t believe they see good ROI Agree that they do see good ROI 42% 34% 34% 32% 32% 31% 24% 17% 17% 28% 34% 32% 31% 24% 45% 41% 41% 41% 32% Reaching new customer segments S lling new business lines/products Retur t normal commerce patterns Pickup i business with existing customers Higher COVID vaccination rates I proved sales/marketing Positive government action (i.e. deregulation) Entering new vertical markets Ongoing management Maintenance and troubleshooting Adoption and migration Solution selection Purchasing Launching business consulting services 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 24 CHANNELV ISION | JANUARY - FEBRUARY 2022
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