Cable operator Comcast is making a bid for the business of SMBs by bundling services including corporate e-mail and document sharing with its high-speed Internet service. Comcast will also provide round-the-clock tech support. Read this article about how other cable providers can increase their SMB business through bundling services.
I blogged back in November about Comcast’s decision to bundle services such as e-mail and document sharing with its high-speed Internet offering in the hopes of winning more business from SMBs.
Now there's an update, with Cable Digital News reporting that Comcast is planning “a major unveiling” of the new product this month. The article cites a Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. Inc. report, which says that the cable company is gearing up for a full-blown and simultaneous deployment across all of its systems rather than rolling it out in stages, as has been more typical with other Comcast product introductions.
The relatively rapid rollout may be to appease Comcast executives like COO Steve Burke, who on a recent earnings call expressed dissatisfaction with the company's efforts to sell business services to SMBs.
Though the SMB area of Comcast’s business grew 46 percent from 2006 to 2007, the company wants to see even stronger growth. According to Cable Digital News, execs mentioned a revenue target of $2.5 billion by 2011, up from $384 million last year.
IT Business Edge blogger Carl Weinschenk says that SMBs present an especially ripe opportunity for cable companies like Comcast. Weinschenk writes:
(SMBs) have traditionally been underserved by the phone industry because of high acquisition costs and the disparity in knowledge between telco engineers, who are accustomed to dealing with enterprise technical experts, and the relatively low telephony sophistication of SMBs.
Weinschenk's blog is packed with further details on how cable companies may be able to woo SMBs and some bullish expectations from analysts on their abilities to do so.
Dell's SMB Services Strategy
Dell is trying to make a new expansion into services a key part of its “Dell 2.0” business transformation effort. Read Ann's insight into Dell's SMB services strategy.
Software So Easy a Business Person Can Use It?
A recent survey found that the majority of end users (60 percent) find enterprise applications somewhat difficult, very difficult or almost impossible to use, hampering employee productivity. Ann takes a look at the statistics and the plea that software needs to be business user friendly.
Adding Intelligence to Asset Management
Interview with Ron Halverson, vice president of marketing and product management for TriActive, a provider of SaaS for systems management.
