Readers speak up on management for SMBs

NETWORK WORLD NEWSLETTER: SCOTT CRAWFORD ON NETWORK/SYSTEMS MANAGEMENT
07/20/05
Today's focus: Readers speak up on management for SMBs

Dear networking.world@gmail.com,

In this issue:

* Feedback from SMBs
* Links related to Network/Systems Management
* Featured reader resource
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This newsletter is sponsored by Fluke Networks
Special Report: Understanding the Changing Nature of Branch
Office Networks

Significant revenue is generated at the branch office. Business
needs to be seamless between locations. This special report
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analysis for branch offices. Learn about the analysis and
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download the report now,
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NETWORK MANAGEMENT GOES OPEN SOURCE

Despite vendors' best efforts, the perception of network and
systems management products is that many are high-priced,
require lengthy deployment cycles, entail multiple integration
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to find out about a new breed of products that just might solve
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_______________________________________________________________

Today's focus: Readers speak up on management for SMBs

By Scott Crawford

Two weeks ago, we asked for feedback from those of you
responsible for IT management in the small to midsized business
or remote branch office. Although the main reason I fielded your
responses was that Audrey was on vacation, she also knew I have
an interest in the subject. I'm no longer a sysadmin - nor do I
play one on TV - but I do find myself involved in IT management
decisions here at Enterprise Management Associates.

I was therefore not at all surprised to learn that the biggest
issue in this area was, as one respondent tersely put it,
"having to manage IT at all." The number one business challenge
for the SMB is simply to compete with extremely limited
resources, sometimes with the largest players in an industry. IT
support often means that something has to be taken away from
strategic priorities. Doing more with less - a common theme
throughout IT in recent years - means a great deal more to the
SMB, when the dollars come out of a pocket so close to one's
own.

This is why the management products of choice deliver maximum
value for minimum investment. Consolidation of resources in an
easily managed package is a recurring theme - which bodes well
for Microsoft's Windows Small Business Server 2003, or Citrix's
recently announced SMB offering, Citrix Access Essentials.

A frequently overlooked distinction was noted among our readers:
the SMB is not necessarily the same thing as the small to
midsized enterprise (SME). Often, these two are classed as one,
but our interest in responses on remote branch offices revealed
some noteworthy differences. Supply-chain participants in major
manufacturing sectors are an example.

Often, line-of-business applications in the SME are
enterprise-class back-ends such as supplier relationship
management systems. This in turn influences the SME's choice of
IT products, which include Infor's Enspire for business systems
management and Correlation for CRM. Why tools such as these? In
part because of their packaged form factor, and their support
for Microsoft Windows Server, SQL Server, and Internet
Information Server (IIS).

Vendors of remote support tools, take note: If there's one
opportunity that stands out in this market, it's IT outsourcing.

Outsourcing holds the promise of freeing the SMB/SME from its
most burdensome IT concerns - and costs. Endpoint support may
still remain an issue, however, since that cost often drives the
price of an outsourcing contract out of reach, at least for more
than a few hours a month. This is why endpoint systems
management tools are among the most popular, among SMBs and
their managed IT service providers alike, primarily those for
Windows desktop and server environments. When compromise on the
cost of endpoint support would help both outsourcers and
customers, a Citrix MSP may be well positioned to step in, since
the Citrix environment can assure delivery of the most
business-critical applications with far less dependence on the
endpoint.

Not all respondents see an opportunity for management products,
however. SMBs/SMEs look at many management offerings and still
fail to see how their value - or their price - is meaningful to
them. Tools designed for enterprise needs don't always translate
well to the SMB/SME; that's why IT outsourcing may be even
better positioned than management vendors to capitalize on what,
aside primarily from Microsoft, still appears to be a
chronically underserved market.

I would welcome the opportunity to continue to hear from you, if
you're at an SMB/SME and you'd like to share your experience.
Believe me, I can relate!

RELATED EDITORIAL LINKS

Management is different for SMBs, remote offices
Network World, 07/06/05
http://www.networkworld.com/nlnsm3446

Appliances replace DNS, DHCP software
Network World, 07/18/05
http://www.networkworld.com/news/2005/071805-appliances.html?rl

The top 5: Today's most-read stories

1. Future-proof your network
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlnsm3447>

2. Appliances replace DNS, DHCP software
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlnsm3448>

3. How to prevent pharming
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlnsm3449>

4. City finds big savings in Linux
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlnsm3450>

5. HP plans to cut 14,500 jobs and save $1.9 billion a year
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlnsm3451>

Today's most forwarded story:

Grant Thornton standardizes IP PBXs
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlnsm3452>
_______________________________________________________________
To contact:

Scott Crawford, CISSP, is a Senior Analyst focused on IT
security, systems and application management with Enterprise
Management Associates in Boulder, Colo., an analyst and market
research firm focusing exclusively on all aspects of enterprise
management systems and services. The former information security
chief for the International Data Centre of the Comprehensive
Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization in Vienna, Austria,
Crawford has also been a systems professional with the
University Corporation for Atmospheric Research as well as
Emerson, HP, and other organizations in both public and private
sectors. He can be reached at
mailto:scrawford@enterprisemanagement.com
_______________________________________________________________
This newsletter is sponsored by Fluke Networks
Special Report: Understanding the Changing Nature of Branch
Office Networks

Significant revenue is generated at the branch office. Business
needs to be seamless between locations. This special report
provides an approach to a resourceful way of using new tools and
analysis for branch offices. Learn about the analysis and
tools used to run a seamless branch business, click here to
download the report now,
http://www.fattail.com/redir/redirect.asp?CID=108602
_______________________________________________________________
ARCHIVE LINKS

Archive of the Network/Systems Management newsletter:
http://www.networkworld.com/newsletters/nsm/index.html

Management Research Center:
http://www.networkworld.com/topics/management.html
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FEATURED READER RESOURCE
THE NEW DATA CENTER: SPOTLIGHT ON STORAGE

This Network World report takes a look at storage trends such as
virtualization, encryption and archiving. Here you will also
find seven tips for managing storage in the new data center, how
storage encryption can help ease the threat of identity theft,
why one exec believes its all about the information and more.
Click here:
<http://www.networkworld.com/supp/2005/ndc4/>
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