Business Intelligence for the SMB Market

by John Kyle
VP of Marketing, LogiXML
July 16, 2007

You don’t have to look very hard to see that technology companies are targeting the small to medium business (SMB) market. The legacy business intelligence (BI) software vendors are no exception. The Global SMB market is growing and, with that growth, needs the kind of insight BI can provide.

The SMB Market

What is the SMB market? Unfortunately, there is not a single accepted definition. In the EU, small- and medium-sized companies are formally defined as having less than 50 and 250 employees, respectively. In the U.S., companies up to 500 employees are generally considered “mid-sized.” Correspondingly, mid-sized companies have revenues between $50M and $200M. A recent article in Computerworld UK noted that, rather than using the more typical company size definitions, one large, legacy BI vendor considers the mid-market to be any company up to $1B in revenue and 1000 employees.

There is a huge difference between a 1000-person enterprise and a 100-person company. Like the company mentioned in the Computerworld UK article, BI vendors can try changing the definition of SMB to make their marketing numbers sound better. Or, we can just give the SMB market the BI products and services they need, built for their needs, designed with them in mind. It’s time to get rid of the complex software, integration and licensing models that have made adoption of BI in the SMB market so challenging.

Next ... Why the SMB Market Needs a Different Approach

Page 1 2 3