Feature Article: Tap The Enterprise Market

By Gennifer Biggs, Business Solutions magazine

For many IT providers, the leap into the enterprise space has proven daunting, and sometimes, overwhelming. For solutions provider Future Tech Enterprise, a decision to play entirely in the enterprise space — none of its customers have fewer than 5,000 seats — has fueled its $100M success story. President and CEO of that company, Bob Venero, says success in the enterprise space means research, tenacity, and offering a broad spectrum of services, in part to balance the peaks and valleys between annuity revenue and project work. Venero classifies laptops, desktops, toner, and printers as annuity purchases (they are replaced regularly) while storage and security are more project-based revenue streams. Offering such a wide variety of solutions — and supporting each of them — isn't for everyone. "It is not easy to land an enterprise customer, and if you don't have the tenacity to invest in a long-term approach and the longer sales cycle, then you may need to play in SMB and enjoy those shorter-term tactical wins," Venero says.

Used with permission from Business Solutions magazine.