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Technology nourishing small business

But there's a way to go, says this small and mid market business expert.

By DAVE GUSSOW
Published June 4, 2005

TAMPA - Small businesses speak a new language these days as technology expands their horizons, says Orlando Ayala, in charge of Microsoft's small and mid market business efforts.

"They speak of the Web," Ayala said. "They speak of the Internet. They speak of professional portals, which didn't exist in their language."

Ayala, whose official title is senior vice president, Small and Midmarket Solutions & Partner Group, has been with Microsoft since 1991, when he was in charge of the Latin America region for the software giant.

He was in the area recently to meet with staff and customers, and he spent a few minutes talking with the Times. Here are edited excerpts:

What are the issues you're hearing about from small- and medium-sized business as it relates to technology? Where are the areas they need help?

The highest piece of feedback comes from ease of use. Many of these companies get quite frustrated with technology that really doesn't work. It's too hard.

What is the climate in the small- and medium-sized business market?

The numbers are telling us that especially the mid market is actually growing quite well around the world. ... Our results are showing double-digit growth, and actually very close to 20 percent, which in this industry is unheard of.

Where are small- and medium-size businesses now in their technological sophistication versus where they were 10 years ago?

There's still a long ways to go, despite the last 10 years. ... Without a doubt the Internet created a different climate. The change was not only for small businesses, but for big businesses. They suddenly realized that they had a way to massively reach out to the business supply chain in a completely different way.

When you talk about security issues with these companies, does Microsoft come across as the helping partner or part of the problem?

One of the things that we look at very closely is customer satisfaction. ... For the security and spam, it's an industry problem where Microsoft gets viewed at the very front of that stuff ... People recognize clearly the value of our tools. Of course, they get very concerned about the security and privacy of their data, and they should be. We've started to take some steps to ensure we enhance the value to them. Otherwise they would see us more a part of the problem than the solution.

Last year was particularly difficult for small businesses in Florida with the hurricanes. Many lost data. Is there a way Microsoft works with companies to prevent this kind of disruption?

It's pretty amazing that even mid market customers don't have a disaster recovery strategy. It's almost part of a business process for a company. At this point, clearly I don't think many companies have that in place. We do believe it is part of how we can partner with small businesses and small business practices. You can show people how to do disaster recovery.

How important is the Florida market to Microsoft?

Clearly, it has a series of elements that matter to us. There are pockets of the Florida markets that have some real connections back to international markets (such as Latin America). ... The Florida market within the U.S., I think there's a lot of potential there. I think small businesses here, especially the retail side matters, tends to be something we see as a big opportunity for us to pursue actively.

You talked last year about your staff spending more time with small businesses and learning more about small business. What did that exercise tell you?

There's a series of things that reconfirm and actually help us change direction based on the activity of the last year and a half. How do you reach these customers? Where do they buy? Do we really need a services channel to be able to help them? I think we have been answering a lot of these questions.

What we have learned, No. 1, is local presence matters. ... We learned that the business owner/manager really cares not only for (information technology) but for whole solutions, so we learned simplicity of licensing matters. They don't want highly complicated stuff.

We also understood that cash flow matters a lot, so being able to provide a line of credit for them to buy the stuff was very good. ... Nobody wants to be labeled, "I am a small business." These people have aspirations like any other business, especially if they pass the first year.

--Dave Gussow can be reached at 727 771-4328 or gussow@sptimes.com

[Last modified June 4, 2005, 06:14:28]