Three questions

Lou Bravo: Territory executive for Florida, IBM, Tampa

Q. Are you seeing an uptick in technology sales from small and medium-size businesses?

Very much so. (Customers are) sharing with us that in these economic times they have to be nimbler, more agile and better able to respond to conditions in the marketplace. And to do that they are making investments in technology, and they're trying to invest in technologies that permit them to have the lowest cost possible, the most effective and efficient technology that they can deploy, as well as reduce other costs in areas such as the amount of technical support that they require for that technology. It seems hiring and retaining a good technical work force is becoming more and more difficult.

Q. What is the biggest mistake these businesses make when it comes to technology?

One is underestimating the amount of manpower that they may require to implement and ultimately to support the application solutions that they install or the infrastructure, the hardware that they install.

Q. Is there one technology that's more in demand?

The Web is being exploited, more so than just providing an information base to their customers. (It's) permitting e-commerce, permitting the transferring of information between the company and its suppliers so that orders can be placed for supplies, raw materials, etc., and the information is passed back and forth. So they have to become more integrated from the standpoint of a customer and supplier. They also have to do that with their various business partners and with their customers. Customers understand that it provides them with a competitive edge when they have that integration.