2 Rules about SMB Technology Investments

Over the years I've spent helping SMB's leverage technology 2 distinct trends have remained true:

1. The success of a technology inside a small-medium sized business is more about the effort than the technology itself.  If a company commits to a technology with its people, the technology is more likely to bring a positive change the business.  Success is driven by the people not the technology alone.  Its like what I've heard repeatedly at the gym, your abs are made in the kitchen not just with your workouts.  If you can't change the way you eat, you won't see success with a particular exercise regime.  Same goes with SMB technology, without the people behind the technology, technology alone can only influence the business to a certain degree.

2. There is a direct relationship to the amount of investment a company makes with technology, to the satisfaction that company has with technology.  Notice I didn't say this was a rule, but, over time, given the proper investments, the companies that I've worked with find that their satisfaction and the impact that technology has on their business grow in relation to the investments made.  

Technology for SMBs has a wide range of adoption and a wide range of success, the problem for the average SMB is finding the right people internally and/or externally who have the expertise to guide a business through the right technology investments to maximize the return. Some the best technologies for businesses today are simply out of reach for the average SMB to properly procure AND implement.  

This level of technology leadership is severely lacking in most SMBs because the people with those leadershipo skills don't tend to stick around in this end of the market.