Can Enterprise Computing Not Be For Enterprises Anymore?

Let us go over some numbers :

• a small business is defined as an organization with fewer then 100 employees
• there are over 8.1 million small businesses in the United States
• they accounted for over 52% of all retail, 46% of all wholesale, and 24% of all manufacturing sales in the United States
• they reported an average $3.6 million in revenue, representing a $29 trillion* market segment
• they reported an average IT budget of $70,000, representing a target market of roughly $567 billion

Having had the opportunity to speak with a number of small businesses over the last few months, their primary concerns seem to coincide largely with the concerns I have heard over and over again from big business.  They need to have better integration between their systems and with their customer or partners.  They need to have better visibility into how they are performing on a hourly, daily, weekly, monthly basis.  They need to be able to standardize processes and automate as often as possible.  They need to be able to all of this so that they can compete with the big guys.

The problem they run into time and time again is cost.  With the licensing of most Enterprise Business Systems starting at $50,000 these systems are priced well out of reach of what should be defined as the average business.  After adding professional services, training and hardware, investment in these types of projects and products is next to impossible.  So I pose the question :

Can Enterprise Computing Not Be For Enterprises Anymore?

With the current state of the technology this seems the only way to go, and here is why :

• Cloud Computing has removed the stress related to technology overhead.  Businesses can commission and decommission systems on an as needed basis.
• Mobile computing devices like the iPhone and iPad provide internet ready devices in a simple and intuitive format.  PoS, inventory, and record management just got simpler.
• Community development tools a la Rypple and ArisAlign are bringing like minded individuals together to discuss and solve complex issues.

What small businesses need are companies that are willing to help build communities and cooperatives around Enterprise Computing.  They need the next killer app to be scalable to address their needs.  And most importantly then need these solutions to be within their price point.

A $567 trillion market seems like an awful thing to walk away from.

* I am aware that the GDP for the United states was $14 trillion in 2008, I am working off the numbers provided by the Small Business Administration, The International Data Group, and The Yankee Group