What do SMBs need and expect from their CSP?

During Digital Transformation World Series (DTW) 2021, I addressed the growing needs of 99% of the world’s businesses, the SMB market. A critical asset in the 5G landscape and a $433 billion revenue opportunity, CSPs have seen SMBs as the ‘problem child’ and struggled to address them in the right way because they don’t have the volume of a consumer, nor the deep pockets of a large organization.

One question I am always asked is how you define SMBs? My presentation with Owen Law, Senior Partner Solution Architect for AWS addressed this head on and went on to reassure CSPs that SMBs aren’t the problem child, but a very attractive proposition if handled correctly.

Why is the SMB market so attractive?

More and more SMBs are adopting technologies and digital tools to run their businesses, something that has been accelerated by Covid. In fact, SMBs’ services revenue is estimated to grow by 9.5% CAGR between 2020-2025, driven by public cloud, next-generation unified communications and collaboration tools, and security services. They are also a significant driver of 5G, with 73% of Global SMBs already seeing 5G as important or extremely important to their business. And what’s even more positive is that 42% of SMBs perceive CSPs as their trusted 5G go-to partner.

The expectations gap – what is really stopping CSP from harnessing this opportunity?

The lack of innovation and speed has deterred 33% of SMBs not to purchase network or connectivity solutions directly from CSPs. The reality is, SMBs feel like they have been left high and dry to solve this issue themselves and have to rely on an average of 7 different suppliers to address their ICT needs. So what are they expecting from CSPs?

They expect to be treated according to their business, and their needs are complex, so they need someone with the knowledge and experience to help them get it right.

Watch the full presentation video below to learn more about:

• The importance of collaborating with an ecosystem of partners to build solutions that better fit SMB needs
• Addressing the different types of SMEs, their unique needs and the vertical context
• Evolving from selling bundles to selling a growing number of outcome-based solutions with technology partners and vertical specialists
• How time-to-market is critical and how AWS is delivering business outcomes for SMBs globally, helping CSPs choose the right partner who can help them launch faster with pre-integrated cloud solutions that they can combine with their own solutions