SMB Providers Look to Grow

A group aimed at giving small and midsize businesses a greater voice in the market is looking to a new Web-based portal to grow its ranks in 2007.

The Mobilize SMB Private Services Network, or MSPSN, which currently has 179 members, is hoping the portal will give current and potential members a better idea of what the group can offer.

“MSPSN provides the framework for the SMB solution provider community to communicate and collaborate, the training and guidance in mastering the MSP [managed services provider] business model, and the tools to manage and build their businesses,” said Amy Luby, one of the groups founding members and CEO of Mobitech, an MSP in Omaha, Neb.

Member companies get such benefits as access to private collaborative forums with other members and monthly Webinars hosted by SMB industry experts, according to Luby.

Andrew Harper, CIO of Gaeltek, in Manassas Park, Va., said the collaboration with other SMBs has already benefited his company, which was able to learn better ways to use Autotasks namesake professional services automation tool.

“Autotask is a tremendous product and has so many capabilities, but by learning from Mobitech what they have implemented and why … I dont have to learn by trial and error,” Harper said. “Mobitech has already done that and found what works.”

Calling the SMB community “fragmented,” Luby said MSPSNs goals are twofold: to unite the SMB channel under one entity so SMBs can scale to compete without having to join a franchise and to give vendors a single point of contact from which to manage their SMB channels.