SMEs are the engine of our economy with some 60% of employed South Africans working for small and medium-sized enterprises. What, however, keeps reseller SMEs in the country’s competitive ICT sector moving forward?

The answer, according to independent telco ICTGlobe.com, is maintaining a single-minded focus on generating new business while keeping the SME lean. “Small resellers of voice and data ICT services need to be wary of taking on overheads that interfere with their ability to nimbly secure new business,” says Juan Wiese, Group Business Development Manager at ICTGlobe.com.

The best way for resellers to keep focused on their core business of selling the voice and data services that enable corporate South Africa to do business better, is to entrust the maintenance of back-end ICT services that support the sales effort to specialists.

“A strong sales team needs to focus on making sales, not on attending to the installation and maintenance of backend IP-based support solutions. In this regard, it’s best to secure the services of a dedicated communications specialist like ICTGlobe.com so there won’t be any blockages in the sales funnel due to relatively minor technical issues,” explains Mr Wiese.

He outlined five reasons why reseller ICT SMEs are better off focusing on new business over system maintenance:

Outsourcing to specialists converts fixed IT costs into variable costs and allows the small enterprise to budget effectively during that all-important start-up growth phase.

It’s easier to determine if an outsourced supplier is properly qualified compared to an internal employee. Business owners not IT-trained wouldn’t usually know if a new hire was appropriately-trained in the applicable back-end ICT systems.

Related to the above is the fact that the in-house IT employee leads an isolated existence. The implication is that qualifications don’t necessarily equal relevant experience.

A quality outsourced ICT partner can quickly implement the latest available communications technology to efficiently support the sales effort.

By outsourcing to a qualified ICT firm, the SME reseller can rest assured that compliance with all relevant security and other standards is taking place.

As a Tier 1 operator, ICTGlobe.com owns its telecoms network meaning it has full control over roll-out and maintenance of this core asset. Operating its own interconnect and networking facilities means the company can reliably offer voice calls at the country's most affordable rates. Finally, 3CX distribution rights for Africa complement ICTGlobe.com’s guaranteed uptime voice and data services.