SMBs Demand Fast ROI On IT Investments

According to a CompTIA survey, 80% of SMBs wants technology solutions that "deliver immediate payback in terms of minimum disruption of business continuity and seamless integration with existing solutions" and are most interested in virtualization, unified communications, and mobile.That return on investment is top-of-mind for business owners and decision makers in small and midsize organizations isn't surprising, given the economic conditions. More intriguing is the 71% who indicated a willingness to pay a premium on proven solutions. Those are the two leading findings of of the second annual SMB Technology Adoption Trends study released by CompTIA, the IT industry trade association. The online survey polled 400 executives as US SMBs in February across several industry sectors, including finance, professional services, insurance, healthcare, and manufacturing.

Commenting on the findings, Tim Herbert, vice president, research, CompTIA, said, "The underlying take-away is that SMBs want IT that works right the first time and will look to solutions that do. Thanks to innovation, the steady decrease of the cost of computing power and storage and new business models, technology has never been more accessible to companies of all sizes."

Digging deeper into the findings reveals the specific solutions that SMBs are most interested in considering over the next 12 months:

• Server virtualization (37%)
• Unified communications (25%)
• Open source applications (20%)

In addition, the study revealed a "two to three fold increase" in use of managed services by SMBs compared to the findings of the 2009 CompTIA study. Moreover, 45% have identified the need for improved mobility infrastructure to enable remote network access in the next 12 months.

The willingness of SMBs to spend on proven solutions indicated by the findings, belies the business and IT challenges that smaller organizations grapple with on an ongoing basis. The study also identified the leading IT priorities stemming from those challenges, including:

• Keeping up with storage demands (55%)
• Managing the increasing sprawl of mobile and remote networks and devices (54%)
• 72% have telecommuting employees
• 87% have mobile employees
• Offering richer online customer experiences (53%)

The complete findings are available on the CompTIA site to members of the association at no charge.

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