Is E-Business Overrated? Network Management Group's Steven Harper

Steven Harper, president and CEO of Network Management Group Inc., has operated Connecting Point, a solution integrator that helps small businesses with network management, integration and consulting services in Hutchinson, Kan., since 1991 in an area that includes less than 1 million people scattered over 40,000 square miles. Harper's business model has changed over the years, but the Web wave has had less influence on it than many might expect.

VARBusiness: How has your business model evolved?
Harper: We [now] charge for everything. We are having to reengineer the way we charge for our services...there's not a lot of hardware business. But there are still service demands and consulting needs, so we are unbundling our services.

VB: What is your customer set?
Harper: It's 100 percent small business.

VB: How important is the Web to your business?
Harper: My philosophy has always been to find out what everybody else is doing and don't do it. To a degree, you've got to be Web-centric. But I think e-commerce on the Web is highly overrated, and there is still no substitute for business done between four eyes. We are probably spending more time trying to become the preferred vendor and getting closer to our customers. We will certainly get them on the Internet, get them Internet access, hook them into DSL and cable modems, whatever they need...[but] we are not developing a Web site for them, etc.

VB: Do many of your small-business customers want to be up on the Web?
Harper: Some do, but most don't. Oftentimes, the cost of doing business on the Web for a small business is greater than the return. We had a client that wanted to sell barbecue sauce, but you've got to sell an awful lot of sauce to pay all the fees associated with a Web-based business.

VB: What kinds of services are your small-business customers demanding?
Harper: Some need to be Web-enabled. They want faster, quicker access to information...but they still have the same technology needs as they had before to run their businesses. If we are changing anything, it's to become even more consultative sellers than ever before. Instead of taking an order, we're out having to sell solutions and sell value-add.

VB: What approach do you use in reaching your customers?
Harper: We handle the Web infrastructure, the network infrastructure, the things it takes to keep their systems up and running. And then they can work with any software vendor in the country they choose. We tell them we'd like to act as the general contractor or the architect because we are going to be here in this local town with you. We're living with them. And we'll accept responsibility to communicate with people who are going to talk in a language they may not be familiar with. They seem to like that.