An amazing number of small and mid-size enterprises continue to avoid taking advantage of all the potential offered by establishing a robust Web presence. For businesses of all sizes, but particularly those that have seen their ability to grow constrained by the economic events of the past two years, harnessing the power of the Web and expanding their digital footprint is critical.

The question has to be asked: Why the reticence and/or complacency?

There are several schools of thought as to the core reason(s).

Establishing an e-commerce site is too expensive

Many companies will readily admit that they need to be on the Internet but fear the aggregated cost of getting there. Visions of $20,000 or $30,000 spent on a flashy Web site and e-commerce capability may create paralysis in even those business owners who perceive themselves as tech-savvy.

The truth is that those days of time consuming and expensive Web development projects are a thing of the past. The tools are better, the development platforms much more friendly and the service providers have matured their processes to the point that $1500 – $2000 can buy a state-of-the-art e-commerce solution.

It’s a generational thing

The SMB population has many 40, 50 and 60 year olds leading companies that didn’t grow up with the Internet and whose frame of reference when it comes to building the business is grounded in the traditional business models of their generation and marketplace. The digital channel, and even more so the social media channel, are foreign and uncomfortable enough that engagement and utilization is not nearly to the levels they should be.

While there may be more than a grain of truth here, fifteen years of experience, socialization, institutionalization and growth of the Internet as a cornerstone engine of commerce should have overwhelmed any negative sentiment harbored by the vast majority of that population of business leaders that are less than digital-centric.

No time and no bandwidth

Small and mid-size businesses tend to operate as lean as possible and allocating the human and time resources to build and constantly maintain a web presence that can remain beneficial to the enterprise over the long term remains, in too many cases, a non-starter.

Outsourcing non-core activities has become fundamental for senior management to provide successful stewardship of the business they are chartered to lead. Few small and mid-size businesses would or should consider web/e-commerce development as part of their core competencies. That is why there are so many companies that specialize in designing, developing and implementing the state-of-the-art in online presence for so many large enterprises as well as those in the SMB sector. You don’t have to do it yourself to harvest all the benefits of expanding the utility of your business online.

At this stage in the lifecycle of the digital business model, there is no good excuse for companies to sacrifice the growing opportunity offered by the online channel. No matter what industry they operate in and what constituencies they market to, the SMB enterprise risks either total or partial obsolescence if they fail to offer their customer base the multi-channel option that leverages online access.