Susanne Creates the Small Businesses’ Small Business

While helping to run her successful family business, Susanne Dansey makes sure all small business owners have the support they need

Small business manager Susanne Dansey recently met a man running his own company at an SBS TechNet event. Unlike Susanne, however, the man was so worried about his IT support business, he was on the brink of shutting it down.

“He had one office in Essex and another in Nigeria but there was only one of him,” says Susanne. “He obviously couldn’t be in both locations at once and felt he was constantly doing at least half of his customers a disservice.”

Susanne understood his predicament immediately and knew exactly where he could get help and keep his business running smoothly. He now has others in the same situation to cover for him in each region and then return the favour for them.

Being her Own Business Guru

Susanne isn’t a professional business advisor. Her Kent-based firm, Readycrest, is a value-added reseller (VAR) company.

Susanne is a Microsoft partner. She knows how to get the best advice for running a successful business. And how to share it with others in the same position.

The DTI estimates that, of the four million enterprises in the UK, 99.2 percent are small businesses – defined as those employing less than 50 people.

“People who own and run a small business, particularly one-man-bands, can feel isolated and need others to bounce ideas off,” explains Susanne. “Problems that seem too big to tackle on their own often have very simple solutions if you ask the right person.

“I’ve seen businesses that don’t use back-up being in danger of losing all their work during a power cut. And I’ve seen one small business using software that took half an hour to load. There’s no reason to be this inefficient.”

Susanne has now set up a web forum to bring small businesses together to share her tips and encourage users to help each other.

In addition, she gives feedback to Microsoft to develop and enhance its solutions and services. Microsoft small business advisors frequently visit her forums to advise, listen and share expertise.

Sharing Skills

Susanne’s website, www.sbsbpi.co.uk, is full of forums where small business specialist partners can air problems and get help from their peers. Susanne also gathers skills and knowledge from Microsoft’s dedicated small-business website, bCentral, which she then passes on to her own forum members.

“We have expert advice around the clock and around the globe so small business owners feel they are part of a community,” says Susanne. “There are members in Australia and people in Florida who create pod-casts on topics such as disaster recovery.”

In recognition of Susanne’s efforts, Readycrest has now attained Microsoft’s new Small Business Specialist accreditation, highlighting it as a company that meets the IT needs of small businesses.

“bCentral has given me the knowledge to make my business a success,” says Susanne. “I now help other people in my shoes to share the skills and knowledge.”