Partners play a vital role in the technology buying cycle for small and medium businesses (SMBs), with nearly half (48 percent) of SMBs involving their technology consultants and service providers when assessing SaaS applications, and 40 percent involving them in the final purchasing decision.
This insight is one of many in a new report, “Inside the SMB SaaS Technology Buying Process,” from SMB marketing and research firm Bredin, commissioned by Zomentum, creators of an intelligent revenue platform built for the partner ecosystem.
The report is co-sponsored by Partnership Leaders, an industry association for partnership, channel, alliances and business development leaders, that focus on the professional and personal success of leaders and their teams. Findings are being released ahead of the Partnership Leaders’ Catalyst Conference, Wednesday and Thursday, in Miami Beach.
“SMBs increasingly look for solution providers that can demonstrate IT expertise and serve as a strategic guide to business success. With partners, SMBs start to receive the benefits that are so important to them from day one,” the report notes.
The report clarifies these benefits as:
- Specialized knowledge in the field
- Product options and comparisons for best fit
- Breaking down complex technical jargon
- Deployment and management
The survey, which polled 350 IT decision-makers at small and medium businesses (SMBs) around the world, also found:
- Sixty-six percent view SaaS technology as essential to business success and plan to adopt or develop it aggressively.
- More than 50 percent plan to increase technology spending in 2023, with only 6 percent planning to cut budgets.
- Seventy-five percent are highly satisfied with the business contributions of cloud applications, particularly for enabling remote work during the pandemic.
- Sixty-six percent of SMBs plan to shift critical workloads from on-premises systems to the cloud in the next six months.
- The most critical factors SMBs look for when assessing new applications are security (70 percent), proven technology (61 percent) and tailoring for their industry (49 percent).
- Forty percent of SMBs said they would buy SaaS solutions through a partner.
“The results of the Zomentum SaaS study show that creating alliances with partners is highly advantageous for SaaS vendors selling to SMBs,” said Zomentum CEO Shruti Ghatge. “A strong vendor-channel partnership creates the right balance of proven technology, support, and security that SMBs are looking for in their SaaS infrastructure.”
To download a copy of the report, visit this link.
SaaS vendors and partners can meet the Zomentum team at the Partnership Leaders’ Catalyst Conference at the Miami Beach Convention Center. Company CEO Shruti Ghatge will be part of the expert panel discussion, “Drive More Revenue with Partners – #MakePartnerRevenueSexy,” at 2:30-3 p.m. (ET), Thursday.
For information about Catalyst, visit https://joincatalyst.com/; to learn more about Zomentum go to go to Zomentum.com; or for information about Partnership Leaders, go www.partnershipleaders.com.
