SMBs to Become More Mobile and Competitive
Small and midsized businesses (SMBs) intend to expand their use of technology to improve customer interactions, mobility options, and operational efficiencies, according to a study by CompTIA, the nonprofit trade association for the information technology industry.
Seventy-one percent of SMBs surveyed said they expect to increase their technology spending during the next 12 months, according to CompTIA’s Third Annual Small and Medium Business Technology Adoptions Trends study. A full one-third expect to increase their IT budgets by 10 percent or more.
The study supports research from IDC, which predicted that U.S. SMB spending on technology would reach $125 billion in 2011, up from $120 billion in 2010. Worldwide, IDC expects spending to reach $630 billion by 2014, with annual growth rate averages of 5.5 percent. CompTIA projects spending on IT by SMBs will grow at 5.2 percent for the year.
“Technology is more accessible, more affordable, and more available to SMBs than ever before,” says Seth Robinson, director of technology analysis at CompTIA. “SMBs may not have an abundance of capital to invest, so they have to make every dollar count. But the majority is willing to spend money on new technologies, especially solutions that give them capabilities on par with a larger enterprise. Technology plays an integral role in the life of a small business.”
Among the factors driving SMB technology buying decisions during the next 12 months are desires for better network efficiencies and robustness, improved connections with customers online and in mobile environments, enhanced resource management and tracking, and more business analytics.
“While cloud computing and mobility show the highest planned adoption rate, business intelligence is the emerging technology with the highest current adoption rate,” the report states. “It makes sense that many small and medium-sized businesses would apply some sort of data analysis to understand their market better. Business analytics also appears on the list of items SMBs want to address immediately. And with analysis getting more sophisticated and available data growing exponentially, this is likely to be a key area for smaller firms in years to come.”
Another vital area for SMBs is social media, with 35 percent of survey respondents already engaging in some social media activity and another 30 percent planning to start in the next 12 months. Forty-four percent of firms employ personnel whose primary job is social media. Among social media’s uses, communicating special offers with customers topped the list, at 68 percent; followed by building brand awareness, at 62 percent; responding to customer questions, at 57 percent; responding to customer complaints, at 52 percent; soliciting customer input, at 34 percent; and understanding market dynamics, at 24 percent.
“Positive experience correlates well with the number of companies that have taken the time to establish a social media strategy,” the report says, noting that improved communication with customers is the strongest value proposition social media can offer.
The research also found that nearly one-third of SMBs have adopted cloud computing technology, with medium-sized businesses (42 percent) showing the highest utilization. Another 35 percent of all SMBs plan to use the cloud in some form during the next year.
Storage and backup is the most heavily used application, with 71 percent of SMBs using the cloud that way. Email (62 percent), document management (59 percent), collaboration (56 percent), and CRM (53 percent) also are popular.
CompTIA’s study is based on a May online survey of 602 IT and business professionals in small and midsized businesses in the United States.
News Editor Leonard Klie can be reached at lklie@infotoday.com.