Executive Thought Leadership

Turning Technology into an Asset

Trusted advisors help smaller businesses maximize the business value of their networks.

Adam Lloyd Eiseman is the cofounder, president, and CEO of Lloyd Group, a New York-based value-added reseller (VAR) and Cisco Premier Partner that has focused for the last 12 years on successfully addressing the IT needs of small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs). Here, Eiseman shares some of the valuable insights he gained along the way about how SMBs can transform technology from a eadacheinto a value-producing asset. wan Morrison, Editor

Cisco: So what does the average SMB technology strategy really look like?

Eiseman: Most SMBs simply don have the resources to develop a technology strategy. Their experience with technology is, his thing is nothing but a headache for me, and I want to get rid of this headache.It like healthcareow can I solve this healthcare problem so that I can focus on my business? If you have employees being pulled away from their jobs to react and deal with technology issues in some way, it just doesn work out well. SMBs tell me, just want to be able to sellor want grow my businessor do tax returns don want to have to deal with IT issues.

The problem is compounded because many SMBs don budget for IT, or when they do, they budget for completely reactive spending because theye afraid to be proactive or preventative. Their networks become inherently unreliable and a big pain pointt something they need, but it an expense rather than investment. If youe focused on whether or not that next virus is going to take your company down, youe not necessarily going out and investing in software or other technologies that will actually make your people more productive. And if your network unreliable, why would you invest in things that youe going to put on an unreliable network?

Cisco: It sounds like the typical SMB could use help with its approach to technology.

Eiseman: SMBs definitely benefit from developing a relationship with a value-added reseller (VAR) or other trusted technology partner that can deliver the necessary scale and expertise. I relate it to this: My company is part of a PEO preferred employer organizationecause healthcare was getting ridiculously expensive. It hard to continue to pass more and more of that cost on to the people who work for you, and the other challenge was that we were unable to offer an appropriate selection of healthcare plans. So we moved to a PEO, which delivers for us the benefits of scale. So now wee actually saving the company money, and wee saving our employees money. We can also provide them more choices and transfer a lot of risk and inherent cost to the PEO.

Cisco: What happens when you remove an SMB technology headaches?

Eiseman: Once you remove the headache, all of a sudden you realize that it has become a manageable expense, that your network now running reliably, and youe not even thinking about it. A good technology partner then does two things. First, it shares information with you about your networkow it performing, how theye managing it, how your costs compare to the past, and so on.

It also begins to share how you can begin to use your network more strategically. Let talk about your plans and objectives, and about your business needs. Let consider your industry and what that means in terms of technology. How can you take advantage of these new efficiencies youe gained, or how can take some of this money and time youe saving and invest in solutions to take your business to the next level. Once the network in place, there are many ways to grow the business value.

Cisco: Is it helpful if your technology partner has experience working with clients within your industry?

Eiseman: It huge, especially when it comes to things like regulatory issues or application integrationow different applications work together, how people interact with those applications. VARs often develop specialized expertise in certain vertical industries. For example, we have a practice focused entirely on the financial-services industry. We also have dedicated practices for the legal industry and professional services.

they also have experience working with some of those clients as they grew, for example, from five people to 200. Our team gains the experience of how best to manage that growth from a technology perspective, and that provides a direct benefit to future clients because we know how to deal with the challenges at each stage.

Cisco: Do you have any advice for SMBs assessing value-added resellers or other technology partners?

Eiseman: Determine how well the firm understands your business, and how much that understanding scales throughout the organization. With lot of smaller VARs, the most successful salesperson often is the owner because he or she is the only one who really understands business issues and can interact with clients on that level. A VAR that scales successfully has people throughout the organization, from engineering to account management or sales, who not only understand the technology but how it relates to your business. You want to look for that. If that business knowledge doesn scale, it spells trouble in the future because that owner only has a certain amount of time and is going to move on to his next sale. A partner with deeper expertise can work with you to make sure your technology investments provide maximum business value in the long run.