Profile Of Preferred Information Sources Used By North American SMBs

Many technology marketing professionals seek to address the telecom and technology requirements of small and medium-size businesses (SMBs), those companies with six to 999 employees, in North America. A key challenge is determining how to reach decision-makers (e.g., CIOs, senior executives, and IT or telecom managers) in these SMBs who are responsible for making telecom and technology purchasing decisions. Survey results show that peers and colleagues are the most important information source for SMB decision-makers of all sizes and across many different vertical market categories. In addition, at least half of these decision-makers also rate vendor resources, as well as consultants, VARs, or system integrators, as important sources of information. Understanding the preferred sources of information used by SMBs at a more granular level enables technology marketing executives to more successfully address the needs of companies in this widely distributed target market.