Small Businesses Plan Technology Spending for 2010
Small Business Speaks OutSpiceworks recently surveyed 1,250 small businesses on their IT spending habits and budget plans for technology refreshes, moving to the cloud, and whether they plan to hire new workers. Here’s what they said.
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Budget Increases PlannedSpiceworks: Overall, year over year, those surveyed plan to increase IT spending by 9 percent.
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Smaller Businesses Plan Bigger IncreasesSpiceworks: Companies with fewer than 20 employees plan the largest IT budget and staff increases among all SMBs.
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Hardware Refresh ComingSpiceworks: Close to half of SMB IT budgets this year are allocated to hardware, mainly to replace legacy assets that have long overstayed their expiration dates.
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Desktops Past Their PrimeSpiceworks: Nearly a quarter of desktops in an SMB IT network are more than 4 years old.
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Most SMBs to Buy HardwareSpiceworks: 80 percent of IT pros in the SMB will buy some type of new hardware in 2010.
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Cloud Computing PlansSpiceworks: 25 percent of participants said they plan to use cloud computing in the next six months.
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Virtualization Investments ComingSpiceworks: 21 percent expect to invest in new virtualization software in 2010.
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Workforce Sizes Likely SteadySpiceworks: 70 percent of SMB IT departments will make do with the same or fewer staff members in 2010.
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CompTIA Looks at MidmarketAnother survey conducted by CompTIA among 400 midmarket companies showed the kinds of premiums these companies are willing to pay for new technologies.
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Immediate Payback WantedCompTIA: 80 percent of SMBs are looking for solutions that "deliver immediate payback in terms of minimum disruption of business continuity and seamless integration with existing solutions.”
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Proven ROI More ValuedCompTIA: 71 percent of SMBs are willing to pay more for new solutions with proven ROI
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Server Virtualization in the WorksCompTIA: 37 percent of SMBs plan to adopt server virtualization in the next year
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VOIP PlansCompTIA: 25 percent of SMBs plan on adopting VoIP in the coming year
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Open Source Gains CompTIA: One-fifth of SMBs have plans to use open source software in the next 12 months
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Managed Services Heats UpCompTIA: Small businesses on average report that they’ll increase the use of managed services by two- to threefold
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Storage ConcernsCompTIA: Keeping up with storage demands is a top priority for SMBs, cited by 55 percent of them as their biggest concern
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Microsoft Partner SurveyMicrosoft and ABI Research recently surveyed over 500 Small Business Specialist partners to discover their predictions for 2010 based on customer feedback
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How Much?Microsoft: Respondents expect SMBs to increase spending this year by an average of 16 percent
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How Many?Microsoft: 63 percent of respondents expect some sort of IT spending increase among customers in 2010
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Hot TechnologiesMicrosoft: Key areas where spending will ramp up most quickly are virtualization, SaaS and CRM
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Cloud PlanningMicrosoft: 19% of respondents believe their customers will use some sort of cloud-based systems in the coming year
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Top Opportunities for 2010Microsoft: Upgrading OS, Backup, Hardware, Virtualization, Server Consolidation and Migration of Server OS are the lead areas of opportunity identified for 2010