The current slow economy has made life very difficult for businesses in the small and medium enterprise (SME) space. With fewer customers having a reasonable budget to spend, the most likely option for remaining in business is to find ways to generate new revenue streams. In a digitally transforming world, this means accessing and driving a range of new services into the market space.
According to Centravoice MD, Pedro Maia, there are many such services that can play a huge role in boosting business income. He points to examples like delivering fibre services, LTE broadband or even premium radio services to the SME sector.
"It is also worth noting that security is something that every business, whether large or small, needs to implement. Therefore, services like firewalling and anti-virus protection can deliver a lot of business mileage, as can network management services and the provision of voice at competitive prices," he says.
"Another area that is growing rapidly is that of cloud. This offers enormous opportunities to SMEs, as customers tend to be enamoured with its cost-effectiveness, scalability and flexibility. Offering cloud hosting, which could include backup, software, platform and infrastructure as a service, is a great way to diversify your organisation's revenue streams."
He suggests that whether the SME in question is an existing business, or is one that is being launched by a new player, partnering with the right reseller can set them up to launch a whole host of services like those already described.
"To achieve this, my recommendation to these SMEs would be to find a reseller that is a national partner of one of the major mobile service providers in the country. Such a player should have access to every single service offered by the operator, which includes all of the above, and by becoming a dealer will thus be well-positioned to earn healthy margins and thus survive the current economic slump more easily."
"The reason I suggest such an approach is that because, as a dealer, the company's main task is to make the sale and generate the quote. They are able to leave the majority of the technical work up to their reseller, while still earning a healthy income. I have heard of many cases in the past where SMEs have been unable to overcome the red tape and regulations involved with becoming resellers themselves, but by working with the right partner, one that can deliver all the necessary back-end services, they are still able to get the best of both worlds.
"They can focus on what they do best, which is selling services to the end customer, without having to worry about holding the relevant technical certifications. Despite this, they can position themselves to earn annuities for the duration of any contract signed with a customer, which will effectively provide them with a guaranteed income for a specified period for each sale they make, something that is ideal in an economy where so much else is in flux."
A good example of how such a partnership can help the dealer to up-sell services, says Maia, would be if a customer with an existing voice or MPLS service comes to the dealer to purchase cloud services. Because of the nature of the partnership with the reseller, it would be in a position to offer the end-customer an alternative solution that brings together its voice, Internet and cloud services under a single umbrella.
"This would ensure the customer received better service, while at the same time reducing their overall costs and eliminating the management headaches that can arise from having to deal with multiple service providers. And, of course, this kind of upselling would benefit both the dealer and the reseller as well.
"So, my advice to SMEs that are finding things tough in the current economy is to seek out the opportunity presented by such a partnership. Once you have undergone the relevant training, you will be well-positioned to take advantage of the digital revolution that is transforming businesses across the country, to boost your annuity revenue and perhaps even to contribute to government's job creation drive. It truly is a win-win situation," he concludes.
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