ICT Players To Conquer SMB Market
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The current stagnation of the hardware market combined with the saturation of the enterprise services market is forcing large ICT players to look at SMB services as the next space to conquer, according to the latest IDC research.

IDC says this will happen possibly at the expense of smaller players who have been very active in filling the gap left by large companies, or on the contrary, smaller companies may benefit from this trend by partnering with large players and reselling their products and services instead.

“Major IT companies are slowly progressing in providing services to SMBs so midsize players are strengthening their positions in this space. Large players will have to present very convincing arguments, especially attractive pricing, to take business away from the more established midsize players. The wave of consolidations that occurred in the last two years (Telstra and KAZ, Optus and Alphawest) illustrates the convergence between IT and telecom and the opportunity for telecommunication companies to leverage their access to the SMB market and position their IT services offering,” says IDC’s Jean-Marc Annonier.

The study also found that Telstra is the strongest contender, having unmatched access to the market. IBM is also increasing its SMB activity, frequently announcing new products especially designed for SMBs.