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