A conversation with Simon Sharwood at Tech.Ed Sydney regarding his recent article on small business technology really helped to crystallise some thinking for me.

Because most of my working life has been inside large organisations like GE, AMP, Citigroup or government the problems of technology pricing had never really impinged on my consciousness. However, now that I am running several small businesses this issue is top of mind.

Decisions about spending even small amounts like $1,000 are critical to a small business. We cannot afford to spend our cash unwisely. Also many small business people do not have many technical skills that would enable them to do a lot of work themselves. Thus a decision to acquire technology is coupled with the need for assistance in setting up and running that technology – there are few IT departments available in small business land.

With entry level pricing for many technology solutions at $10,000 plus the barriers for small business in Australia are enormous. This makes SaaS solutions coupled with decent broadband access utterly critical to small business growth in Australia.

The first companies that get this right and understand the right price-points for small business will be able to own the niche. It is a niche that is totally under serviced at present, but which has great need for help. But that help must come at the right price.