SMBs - high value customers

AMI’s segmentation of the US small and medium business (SMB) markets reveals that 30% of US firms can be classified as “high-value customers”—those with a deep reliance on IT and communications technologies and a continuous need to invest in technology to drive their growth and streamline operations. These 30% account for more than 60% of the total amount spent on IT and communications gear and services each year. For IP-based communications products and services—such as IP-PBXs and web conferencing—their share of spending is significantly higher. An analysis of the customer bases of AT&T, Verizon, cable broadband providers and other CLECs reveals that CLECs and cable providers have done a good job of attracting some of these high-value small businesses (1-99 employees), when compared to national averages. Similarly, AT&T is doing very well on those metrics in the mid-market space (100-999 employees) where cable providers are notably losing out quite significantly. ISP’s, such as AT&T, Verizon, and cable companies’ customer bases are examined from a segmentation standpoint to assess who is better positioned to sell higher margin managed IP services down the road. The report also highlights a simple process ISPs/vendors may follow to optimize/balance the composition of their customer base by applying AMI’s segmentation and predictive analytics tools. www.ami-partners.com.