This is my first post as the new SMB IT guy. Before I start telling you about the latest in information technology for smaller companies, I thought I'd tell you a bit about myself and the point of view I bring to SMB IT. I grew up around small businesses. My grandfathers both owned their own businesses (one a service company, the other a manufacturer), and I spent hours watching them deal with customers, employe This is my first post as the new SMB IT guy. Before I start telling you about the latest in information technology for smaller companies, I thought I’d tell you a bit about myself and the point of view I bring to SMB IT. I grew up around small businesses. My grandfathers both owned their own businesses (one a service company, the other a manufacturer), and I spent hours watching them deal with customers, employees, and the thousand-and-one details that separate success from failure in small businesses. While I’ve spent the majority of my career in publishing, part of that time has been as an executive in small publishers. I’ve also been a managing director for a service company — I know what it’s like to hire (and fire) critical talent, and to make sure my IT infrastructure could cope with data exchange from the far larger companies I had as customers. More important, I know what it’s like to make a sales call on Tuesday knowing that I didn’t have enough in my accounts to make payroll in two Fridays. In short, I understand what life for the SMB is like. One of the things I know, too, is that your IT needs aren’t necessarily simpler just because you’re taking care of a smaller company. I know five-person firms that do business in a dozen nations and need deep hooks into enterprise ERP processes. An SMB needs no less secure an infrastructure than does a Fortune 500 company, and can cope with no less functional a set of applications. The greatest two differences have to do with resources. First, an SMB just won’t have the same money to spend on IT that the largest enterprises will have. One of the consequences of that is that most SMB IT work will be done by IT generalists, rather than folks who specialize in a single aspect of IT. This staffing reality has some deep implications for the sort of administrative consoles and analysis tools best deployed in a small business. I’m going to try to talk about the products, technologies, and strategies that will work best for companies that fit into the SMB classification. Some of these will be very narrowly focused on one vertical market while others will have a broad application. I’m looking forward to bringing them to you. I’m also looking for something from you. Please drop an email message to me (curtis_franklin@infoworld.com) and tell me about your company and your biggest needs and concerns. This column will work best as a conversation rather than monologue — let me know what you’d like to see. If you’re especially curious about a product category, a technology, or a company, I’ll try to help you out with the best, most accurate information I can find. That’s the introduction. I’m grateful to my friend Oliver Rist for setting a great example, and I look forward to continuing to provide great information on SMB IT to the most dynamic business segment I can imagine. Technology Industry