Am beginning to think about an Emergic Freedom market which we have not thought much of: small and medium enterprises (SMEs). This is in a way a full circle – this was how I had originally started, but then somehow I was sidetracked into thinking of the larger companies (more users => more savings).
SMEs (esp, owner/manager/proprieter-driven) will like the cost savings, and more importantly we get to the top people. Most MIS/CIOs are not particularly friendly – they see Linux as low-tech and low-cost PCs as a No-No (reduced IT budgets). At the same time, CEOs/CFOs (the ones whose money us getting spent) like the solution – they are willing to go for a 80-90% solution if it saves them costs. Also, there are many things SMEs need – website management, listserv, support / AMC, etc – which could all be packaged together. Virus is a big concern for SMEs, and we have a winning proposition there.
Maybe we need like an “SME Cookbook” – 21 ways to make technology work
for you (a book and the hardware/software solution put together). Look at the activities that SMEs do and see how we can get technology like Emergic Freedom (or more broadly, Emergic) to make a difference.
With SMEs, the issue is always how to reach them on the marketing front. That is one of the reasons we don’t think much about selling to SMEs. I need to spend some time thinking this through.
SME+T
