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August 12, 1998, 8:30 AM EST
By John Moore, Sm@rt Reseller
Small businesses have gotten the Y2K wake-up call. But what are they doing about it?
The Small Business Market -- The reigning darling of technology marketeers these days -- is perhaps the sector most clueless when it comes to the looming Year 2000 problem.
A Gallup poll sponsored by Wells Fargo Bank last month revealed that 75 percent of the small businesses aware of the Y2K problem had yet to assess their millennium vulnerability, and half had no immediate plans to do so.
The Small Business Administration has responded to this lethargy with an awareness campaign, dubbed "Are You Y2K OK?"
One could argue that SBA's nudge is more than a little late, given that the big day is, alas, less than 16 months away. The agency, however, is seeking a push from industry to help get the word out. Last week, SBA met with groups such as the Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA) to discuss its small business wake-up call.
Will SBA's awareness effort drive customers to your door? Who knows? The agency certainly has the tools. SBA has visibility and influence. And don't forget, it has a monster database of small businesses.
"They are in a position to have a great deal of effect," says Thomas Soeder, chairman of RMM Inc., a Columbia, Md.-based firm that markets Y2K tools to small businesses. But he adds that SBA will have more to overcome than indifference. He says small businesses are "fighting for profit" and are reluctant to take a Y2K hit on the balance sheet.
SBA, meanwhile, is working to get resources in place to help the small businesses that heed its Y2K warnings. SBA is running a Y2K Web site with a link to a database of contractors. Small businesses can use SBA's PRO-Net system to search for Y2K contractors by location, capability and other factors.
SBA's PRO-Net could prove a handy marketing tool for resellers that are themselves small businesses. Companies that meet SBA's size requirements are eligible to have their profiles included in the PRO-Net database. The SBA's threshold is $18 million for most computer services businesses. To make sure your company qualifies, the SBA's online registration site includes a link to size-standard information. Be sure to check it out.
Getting listed in a free database is easy. The heavy lifting will be getting your complacent and/or cash-strapped small business customers to move off the mark.
Heard on the Hill
Is "fast track" back from the dead? A bill to give President Clinton fast-track authority to negotiate global trade deals died in Congress late last year. But the Senate recently tacked a fast-track measure onto a bill that also would authorize a new trade policy with sub-Saharan Africa. Fast-track authority would help eliminate trade barriers, assisting resellers and distributors to expand worldwide. But while Clinton pushed for fast track last year, he would just as soon see it go away this time around. The bill apparently is dividing Democratic lawmakers