A list of promising IT solutions for SMB customers might include information security, server consolidation, e-mail archiving, video IP surveillance, electronic medical records, infrastructure upgrades, digital graphics, online applications, business continuity and regulatory compliance.

What do these solutions, and many others you could name, have in common? They all contain a significant storage component -- making storage a primary, if not the No. 1, solution to lead with for SMB customers.

"Increasingly, SMB customers face the same storage and information management challenges as larger enterprises, yet they often lack the expertise or resources to effectively manage these challenges internally," says Jason Reiher, category manager for systems and storage at Ingram Micro. "This creates an opening for VARs to bring storage into their portfolio as a part of their value-added service.

"Still, VARs pitching network storage to smaller firms face objections not faced by their enterprise counterparts -- such as extreme price conscious ness and the inertia behind more familiar direct-attached storage. Countering these objections is the key to growing a successful storage practice.

Storage Market Potential
As digital information increases and its business value grows, solution providers are finding broad opportunities for network storage sales. In fact, because storage is strategic to customers of every size, some 42 percent of the VARBusiness 500 lead with storage when proposing a sale.

"SMBs are migrating to network storage because of the evolving sophistication of technology," says Mitchell Feather, vice president at Creative Associates, a solution provider. "In the past, an SMB might have a few hundred megabytes of storage. Today, even small businesses have terabytes, making tape backup an impractical solution." Feather counters this with disk-to-disk backup based on network-attached storage (NAS) or a storage area network (SAN).

Novanis, a solution provider with a large storage practice, sells network storage to healthcare companies needing to archive digital images and electronic medical records; to financial firms concerned about regulatory compliance; and to SMBs needing better security and manageability of e-mail archives and database records. "We've had success addressing these issues with a variety of SAN solutions," says Jamie Vost, vice president of sales at Novanis.

Of course, NAS and SAN sales are contingent on meeting the needs of SMBs for performance, ease of use and affordability -- the latter often heading the list. "Network storage is coming down on the price curve, but not all customers are open to it," says Feather. "Some think the money would be better spent on another server."

"There's still a pricepoint issue for smaller customers," agrees Craig Flint, founder and VP of Computer ER, an MSP and solution provider with a growing storage practice. "When customers see they have open server slots, they may be hesitant to centralize storage."

Selling the Future
Such objections can be overcome by looking to the future, when network storage will deliver real benefits.

"The key is sitting down with customers and learning their business direction enough to map out a strategy for centralized storage," says Flint. The conversation often goes like this: Maybe network storage isn't in your budget today, but it will improve your operations as you generate more data, hire more employees and add more complexity to your IT environment and your business.

Vost of Novanis also stresses the future, particularly the competitive landscape. "Where will your storage needs be in one to five years," he asks, "and how will your competitors handle theirs?" This has helped customers understand the business advantage of more secure and manageable network storage.

Case in point: Novanis recently sold a midrange SAN to a banking operation that aggregates information and then passes it on to 400 member banks. Before the SAN, information was scattered across 15 servers. The SAN improved information management, archiving and compliance. Most importantly, perhaps, "the SAN enables the bank to market the security, availability and reliability of its information to its customers," Vost says. "That's how network storage can deliver a competitive edge."

Want more advice on growing your storage practice? Contact Ingram Micro, which offers rich resources and support for SMB and midrange storage solutions. See "News You Can Use" for details and contacts.