SMEs Put Their Faith in Traditional IT

SMEs Put Their Faith in Traditional IT

Top Business Outcome Goals

Cost control is still important, but driving new revenue is also critical. 87%: cost control/containment, 84%: improving customer experience through value-added services, 76%: retaining and expanding customer base, 71%: meeting compliance and government requirements, 57%: business agility and faster time to market, 57%: expansion into new markets

Top Challenges to Achieving Business Growth

Fundamental IT issues are still a major challenge. 60%: security concerns, 59%: infrastructure and data complexity, 43%: mobile strategy challenges, 42%: skills shortage, 42%: time-to-market challenges, 42%: regulatory/governance pressure

IT Investments Planned in Next 18 Months

For all the cloud hype, on-premise infrastructure still leads. 54%: on-premise infrastructure, 51%: reallocation of resources, 48%: training and hiring, 47%: increase vendor partnerships, 43%: regulatory and governance solutions, 36%: investment in cloud infrastructure

Strategic IT Investment Impact

More than half see IT pushing them ahead of competitors. 42%: move somewhat ahead of competitors, 27%: keep you on par with competitors, 23%: move significantly ahead of competitors, 4%: catch up with competitors, 4%: not sure

Level of Strategic Business Importance in Next 18 Months

Interest is high in new apps and services that transform the business. 62%: rollout of new IT services/delivery models, 60%: adjusting business models to meet customer demand, 59%: deployment of new apps to increase productivity, 50%: development of strategic partnerships , 43%: implementation/expansion of mobile strategy, 42%: migration to cloud-based infrastructure

Level of Importance for Application Initiative in Next 18 Months

It’s hard to say one thing is absolutely more important than another. 59%: ensuring security and compliance, 52%: increasing collaboration between IT and the business, 50%: optimizing apps for mobile environments, 49%: leveraging business expertise to drive growth, 48%: big data initiatives, 44%: rapidly developing new apps, 29%: enabling business users to design and build apps

Top Issues Affecting Goal Achievement

Budget constraints and complexity are the top challenges. 49%: limited budget to develop apps, 47%: data complexity, 45%: skills to manage and leverage apps, 45%: integration issues, 40%: device complexity, 32%: inability to customize apps, 29%: time to market

Obstacles to Implementing Cloud Infrastructure

Security remains the top perceived concern. 41%: security, 35%: limited budget, 31%: ROI concerns, 29%: unclear business benefit, 26%: regulatory/governance concerns, 19%: none, 5%: other