Large numbers of small and medium-sized enterprises are embracing social media as a means of conducting business, a survey finds. Sixty-two percent report that they now use social networking in everyday business, while 92 percent use it to keep in touch with customers, and 78 percent use it to find new customers.
LinkedIn is the most widely-used social media tool by small businesses, with 83 percent of those that said they were using social media, using the business-orientated social networking site. Facebook (72 percent) is the next most popular means of conducting "social business," followed closely by Twitter (65 percent). Forty-four percent of these socially active small businesses also run a company blog to engage with the public, but only 3.5 percent reported using MySpace, and a handful of others are using other forms of social media such as YouTube, Yammer, Xing, Quora and FourSquare.
The use of cloud free CRM, cloud CRM and web based CRM by small businesses has now overtaken in-house CRM, with 45 percent of respondents now using hosted applications as opposed to 36 percent using in-house CRM.
The survey confirms that free CRM, cloud CRM and web based CRM systems remain the most popular type of Cloud-based solution used by small businesses and 66 percent of respondents reported that they are now more confident in hosted CRM systems than traditional in-house systems. The use of hosted accounting, ERP, payroll and manufacturing solutions has gone up slightly (between one and three percent), whilst one percent less companies are using a hosted HR system. Despite only a modest rise in their use, confidence in hosted systems over their in-house counterparts has risen in most areas, most notably in the payroll market, with some 54 percent or respondents now more confident in hosted solutions - up 10 percent on last year.
The survey also revealed that almost half of respondents feel as confident about the reliability, speed, data safety, and functionality of cloud applications as they do with in-house offerings. This is indicative of the now almost identical usage of hosted and in-house CRM.
Perhaps surprisingly, 40 percent of those questioned plan to spend more on IT in the next 12 months than they did in the last 12 months and a further 38 percent will keep IT spend at the same level.
Comment from John Paterson, CEO of Really Simple Systems: We all know that enterprise companies are rapidly adopting social media as a means of communicating with existing customers and prospects, but I was surprised to see that adoption among small businesses was so advanced. Our survey shows that 80 percent of respondents agree that cloud systems require less internal IT-support. And with 63 percent stating that Software as a Service solutions are made more attractive by the current financial climate, cloud solutions continue to be a major way for companies to dramatically reduce IT overheads, removing the burden of system maintenance for small organizations who would rather allocate that resource to developing the business. In two years, we have seen a split of 47/36 percent in favor of in-house, become a 45/36 percent split the other way. CRM is now being delivered through the cloud to the majority of small businesses using such a system.
On the fact that 40 percent plan to spend more on IT in the next 12 months than they did in the last 12 months, Paterson said: This is good news for the IT sector as the signs show the dark clouds of recession and austerity seem to slowly lifting. It's not yet business as usual, as rising inflation should be factored into these results, but it looks like the IT sector is on the road to recovery, with cloud vendors set to benefit from increasing small business confidence in the economy.
About the survey: The survey was conducted among 862 small and medium-sized organizations with fewer than 50 employees by Really Simple Systems, a European provider of free CRM, cloud CRM and web-based CRM (Customer Relationship Management) services. The annual survey has traditionally questioned small business owners, directors, sales, marketing and IT managers, on their views of cloud services and the reliability of the products currently available in the market and this year covered the issue of social media for the first time.
Contact: http://www.reallysimplesystems.com
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