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Small businesses are increasingly being viewed as vital contributors to the economy. Today’s SMB market is highly fragmented with the presence of many smaller, more discrete markets. The SMB Group focuses exclusively on researching and analyzing this SMB market and assess for the clients, where they stand in the market today, and the steps they need to take to achieve their desired business goals. The research firm has recently published their latest study, titled, “Moving Beyond Email—The Era of SMB Online Collaboration Suites.” The firm said that the study takes an in-depth look at the small and medium business (SMB) online collaboration market, and analyzes the marketing strategies, solution capabilities, service offerings and differentiation of eight online collaboration suite vendors.

In this report, the firm examined several vendors including, Google (News - Alert) Apps for Business, HyperOffice, IBM LotusLive, Microsoft BPOS, OnePlace, Salesforce Chatter, VMware Zimbra and Zoho. The report features the SMB Readiness Grid and comprises of detailed comparison reports designed to help SMBs evaluate solutions based on several criteria, including: company strengths, solution capabilities, and marketing strategies relevant to the SMB market. Detailed vendor profiles are also included in the study.

“Collaboration is probably the only business activity that every employee in every company engages in every day. Until recently, a few tools, such as email, calendars, document sharing and the phone were all SMBs needed for collaboration. But in an age of information overload, generational shifts in the workforce, new collaboration technologies and an explosion in mobile devices, many SMBs are seeking effective and integrated collaboration tools to streamline collaboration and keep everyone updated and on the same page,” Laurie McCabe, SMB Group partner and report co-author, said.

The report revealed that many vendors are seizing on this growing market opportunity to provide collaboration suites that integrate people, tools, services and content. “The online model—also known as software-as-a-service or cloud delivery—is becoming the model of choice for delivery…vendors bring different capabilities, strengths and weaknesses to the table, and SMB customers need to carefully examine their own requirements and collaboration goals to find the best fit,” McCabe further added.