Author: Ian Betteridge
Date: 06/03/2008
Is there such a thing as a typical small business?
When trying to talk to and about small businesses, there’s a temptation to think about them as a fairly homogenous group. You want to be able to talk of "small businesses" as if they all had the same needs, desires, and so on.
But the problem is that small businesses are actually quite different, with lots of kinds of company. There’s the seasoned, hard-bitten businessman, who’s been running their small firm for 20 years. There’s the serial entrepreneur, who moves from company to company slickly and quickly, selling and moving on as they go. And there’s the one-person band, whose company is just him – and will always stay that way.
Small businesses usually start out with a handful of people, and take on the characteristics of their founders as they grow. And the motivations for going into business are many and varied, from simply wanting to be your own boss through to having to strike out on your own after redundancy.
All this means that, if your business involves dealing with small businesses, you need to make sure you understand that a "one size fits all" solution won’t be the best option. It’s why, for example, BT offers both the Windows Mobile-based Office Anywhere and the BlackBerry for mobile email. While they both do mobile email, each may suit different kinds of small business to a different degree.
Making sure that small businesses have the right products for them is hard – but it’s what BT wants to do. Because, ultimately, we recognise that your business is as unique as you are.