South Wales Small Business Specialist Group

In the USA and Australia, groups of individual technology service providers who specialise in the smaller business have come together to form collaborative groups. Recognising that they can actually work with other organisations who would traditionally be considered competitors, these groups are building a thriving community and discovering that this can lead to win/win collaborations amongst their members. As a result, each individual contributor is strengthened by drawing from the skills and experience of peers within the community. Groups have also noticed that vendors have started to pay attention and in some cases product offerings have been influenced to make them more small business friendly. These gatherings of small business specialists are known collectively as "SBS Groups".

Here in the UK, this idea has been slow to take off. It seems that something about the British psyche prevents us from believing that we can work with our 'competitors'. Microsoft has drafted in Robbie Upcroft who has plenty of experience with these small business specialist communities from within Microsoft Australia. With Robbie's help and encouragement, several groups are already underway accross the UK and Ireland with more already planned. The South Wales group will launch within a few days of writing this article.

Currently, the situation in Europe looks something like this:

The Global Village

The SBS groups are beginning to organise nationally and internationally through online groups and conferences. A group has been set up as a forum for all of the group leads so that high-level discussions can be held concerning SBS Groups in general, national and international initiatives and strategies can be worked out and information can be easily disseminated to each individual group. For example, it is now quite easy to see which speakers are currently on the group circuit and what other groups thought of their presentations. A LiveMeeting account is been made available free of charge to SBS Group leaders so that groups members can attend teleconferenced presentations that would otherwise be unavailable to them.

Symbiosis

This spontaneous organisation of individual IT consultants into organised groups initially took vendors by surprise. Microsoft was as surprised as any and initially was unsure how to relate to this new force in the IT industry. They soon realised that SBS Groups make better IT consultants, which benefits customers, consultants and vendors alike. Recognising the advantages of this symbiotic relationship, Microsoft is invested in a programme to encourage similar groups in the UK. Microsoft is currently offering to sponsor at least the inaugural meeting by providing a venue and nibbles and to help find speakers to attend the group meetings and give demos and presentations. While being very keen to encourage the formation of SBS Groups in the UK, Microsoft also recognises that it should not try to control or interfere in the running of the groups so each group is organised completely independently and is free to organise any way it chooses. It is to be hoped that other vendors will be as quick to recognise the potential benefits of the SBS Groups and will also offer support, sponsorship and speakers.

SMB Nation

A yearly conference is organised by Harry Brelsford where small business consultants worldwide come together at the Microsoft campus in Seattle, Washington. The conference is known as SMB Nation (SMB being the American equivalent to the British SME). We have not yet had an opportunity to attend but all the indications are that this is a very worthwhile event to attend.

Resources

There are a lot of resources becoming available as a result of all this activity. Some are of direct benefit to technicians, while others are more useful for business managers or group leaders. The table below lists a few of the more important sites which will act as a springboard to other sites of interest.