Modern office, hybrid & remote working


A positive attitude towards managed services Managed services are attracting a lot of interest from SMBs. Te feedback we received is that there is a lot of positivity around this subject, with most small businesses now willing to consider it as a genuine option for managing their IT. Ideally, they want their current trusted partner to be the one that


provides the service. For a small reseller business, however, setting up a managed service option can take quite a bit of investment. We’re hoping to help partners find their way around that challenge when we launch Synaxon Managed Services in the UK this summer.


Cybersecurity can’t be avoided SMBs know they can’t brush cybersecurity under the carpet. It must be taken seriously as the threat is genuine. But it is also seen as a faff and a drain on the IT budgets. Some small business owners still have a problem paying for security because they argue that you never really know if it is actually doing anything. If they have never been hit by a cyberattack, that might well be down to having decent protection in place. But if they have never experienced an attack, they can’t completely understand what they are paying for. One way around this is to make sure you use a product or service


that allows you to produce regular reports on attacks and threats that have been successfully repelled. Another is to hand the cybersecurity over to an MSP. As noted above, the attitude towards managed services amongst SMBs is largely positive now, and this could be a good area of future potential.


Being honest about products and capabilities Managing expectations about solutions and your own capabilities as a business is key – but it’s not as easy as it sounds to get this right. A lot of SMBs have had bad experiences with technology suppliers in the past and feel quite strongly that the reseller needs to be entirely honest about what a product can do and the benefits it might deliver. Partners also need to be candid when talking about their own skills and resources. Doing this is not as easy as it sounds. Selling is all about


emphasising the positives and diminishing the importance of any potential objections or disadvantages. But it is also important not to oversell. You need to be authentic about what you can offer. You can be bold and ambitious – that’s expected as well. But if you set customer expectations too high and then can’t deliver on your promises, don’t expect to be forgiven.


Genuine interest, but also scepticism, in AI There is enormous curiosity about AI amongst SMBs, and what they might be able to do with it. There is also a lot of scepticism. From experience, I’d say this is only to be expected with a technology that has the potential to change all our working and personal lives. It’s a subject that fascinates business owners but also worries them. They are only going to commit to projects if their trusted partner can show them exactly how AI will deliver return on investment. There is another interesting aspect to AI, though – and that’s


how it can be used by partners to improve their services to end-user customers.


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Hybrid working While there are still a few bosses who expect all their staff to be in the office five days a week, hybrid working and everything that goes with it is now accepted amongst SMBs. Almost every business lets staff work at home at least some of the time. Many are investing in their workplaces, making them more attractive for employees by providing flexible working spaces and meeting rooms with good video conferencing equipment. Many SMBs are also helping staff be more effective when working


from home by providing productivity-enhancing peripherals – multi-function printers, large format displays, keyboard and mouse combos, docking stations, and even WiFi routers. Tis continues to be a good area of opportunity for partners.


The modern workplace If by ‘modern workplace’ we mean one in which they make use of IT to do just about everything, from communicating with customers to creating invoices, SMBs have fully embraced it. Tey are taking advantage of the cloud and modern cybersecurity solutions. Many are ready to use managed services and keen to find out more about AI. At the same time, they won’t be pushed into adopting a technology too quickly or taking what they see as an unnecessary risk. While none of the conclusions we have drawn from our


conversations with SMBs may surprise you, it’s never a good idea to assume you know what your customers want. It’s important to ask them what they think and what they want, and to listen and respond to what they say. If nothing else, that’s a good way to start a conversation about how their approach to IT is changing and what they might need in the future.


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