The proliferation of hackers, natural disasters and unstable market conditions are all significant drivers for small and medium businesses (SMBs) in the U.S. to seek backup/storage for their company's data and email in the cloud, according to new research.
Pressure to reduce costs, improve flexibility, and maintain privacy of sensitive data also lures SMBs to invest in cloud storage.
Furthermore, for mobile SMB employees, cloud storage is an attractive tool for backing-up and storing data while on the go. 31 percent of the one million U.S. SMBs using hosted storage have mobile employees. The market for hosted storage will increase by 11 percent yearly (CAGR) through 2015, to $270 million.
Comment from Nichelle Grannum, Survey Research Analyst at AMI: Many U.S. SMBs are moving to the cloud to enhance existing packaged applications, such as CRM databases. Cloud storage provides these companies with the latest storage technology realizing a significant reduction in IT overhead due to decreased investment in physical storage devices on their premises. Hosted storage also allows companies to subscribe based on their storage capacity requirements and desired backup schedule, coupled with the benefit of a flexible payment schedule. Since companies need only to pay for the storage they actually use, hosting costs can be tightly controlled. Responsibility for storage maintenance tasks, such as backup, data replication, and storage software updates are entrusted to the service provider, allowing SMBs to focus on their core business.
For cloud storage U.S. SMBs prefer private servers as opposed to public or hybrid ones.
Company data is constantly changing and growing in volume, thus moving storage to the cloud gives companies greater storage capacity and flexibility at a lower cost. With the influx of smartphones and tablets, cloud storage will become increasingly more critical in providing an easily accessible, yet secure place to backup and retrieve company data.
About the study: AMI's 2011 U.S. SMB Cloud Playbook -- Strategic and Tactical GTM Planning Guide provides a tactical framework for architecting cloud-based services offerings to meet the growing demand for cloud services "bundles" and a perspective on cloud-related dynamics shaping up in the SMB space.
Contact: http://www.ami-partners.com
Showing posts with label SMB. Show all posts
Showing posts with label SMB. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Majority Of Independent Business Owners Have Never Heard Of Cloud Computing
Small business owners apparently are clueless about cloud computing, according to a survey.
Findings:
-- 71 percent have never heard of cloud computing
-- 74 percent of those who have heard of cloud computing said they could not describe it
-- 22 percent said they had data or critical information, software or hardware in their office that may not be secure
-- Only 29 percent said that their critical computer hardware, software and data was backed up and stored offsite
Comment from Barry Sloane, President and CEO of The Small Business Authority: Cloud computing will be the next important trend in the U.S. economy for businesses large and small. There is no doubt that business owners will embrace the cloud concept and over time gravitate towards its massive benefits. We surveyed over 1,800 independent business owners and discovered that the concept of cloud computing has begun to disseminate into the marketplace, due primarily to large advertising programs by entities like Microsoft, Cisco and others. Business owners will need to understand what the cloud is and what it can do for their businesses in the areas of cost control, data security, data protection, accessibility, efficiency and productivity to facilitate a smooth running technological platform for their business. About 25 percent of our business owners said they understood what cloud computing was. However, when we drilled down deeper most, 78 percent, thought that their data was secure. Yet 71 percent stated their data was not backed up offsite. Server huggers beware. The cloud is approaching; the security blanket of the server in the closet onsite and having an assistant backup important business data and confidential client information needs to be behind us all. Our survey this month is quite telling about what independent business owners really need to know about the cloud and how misinformed they are about data safety and security.
About the survey: Conducted by Newtek Business Services, the monthly SB Authority Market Sentiment Survey polled approximately 1,800 small business respondents.
Contact: http://www.newtekbusinessservices.com
Findings:
-- 71 percent have never heard of cloud computing
-- 74 percent of those who have heard of cloud computing said they could not describe it
-- 22 percent said they had data or critical information, software or hardware in their office that may not be secure
-- Only 29 percent said that their critical computer hardware, software and data was backed up and stored offsite
Comment from Barry Sloane, President and CEO of The Small Business Authority: Cloud computing will be the next important trend in the U.S. economy for businesses large and small. There is no doubt that business owners will embrace the cloud concept and over time gravitate towards its massive benefits. We surveyed over 1,800 independent business owners and discovered that the concept of cloud computing has begun to disseminate into the marketplace, due primarily to large advertising programs by entities like Microsoft, Cisco and others. Business owners will need to understand what the cloud is and what it can do for their businesses in the areas of cost control, data security, data protection, accessibility, efficiency and productivity to facilitate a smooth running technological platform for their business. About 25 percent of our business owners said they understood what cloud computing was. However, when we drilled down deeper most, 78 percent, thought that their data was secure. Yet 71 percent stated their data was not backed up offsite. Server huggers beware. The cloud is approaching; the security blanket of the server in the closet onsite and having an assistant backup important business data and confidential client information needs to be behind us all. Our survey this month is quite telling about what independent business owners really need to know about the cloud and how misinformed they are about data safety and security.
About the survey: Conducted by Newtek Business Services, the monthly SB Authority Market Sentiment Survey polled approximately 1,800 small business respondents.
Contact: http://www.newtekbusinessservices.com
Despite Surge In Cloud Storage, SMBs Still Using Network-Attached Storage
Cloud-based storage solutions have not supplanted network-attached storage among small- and medium-sized business, research shows.
More than 70 percent of small and medium-size businesses (SMBs) that use cloud-based storage solutions also use networked-attached storage (NAS).
While SMB NAS represents a smaller portion of the total NAS market, SMB NAS is expected to grow at a much faster rate over the forecast period with revenues reaching $2 billion in 2015, says In-Stat .
Network-attached storage is a specialized server connected to a network that provides file-based data storage services to other devices on the network. NAS systems typically have the capability to support one or more hard disk drives (HDDs), and often include features such as RAID (redundant array of independent disks) and back up/replication services for all the devices attached to the network.
Findings:
-- 57.3 percent of SMB survey respondents use NAS technology products
-- North America and Europe will represent 84.6 percent of the revenue opportunity for the SMB NAS market.
-- Survey respondents that "don't use NAS" tend to have less than 50 employees.
Comment from Norm Bogen, VP Research, In-Stat: As the market has matured, the definition of NAS has taken on additional aspects. In particular, system management software has evolved into the most important feature of NAS adoption for several reasons, but primarily because it simplifies the user experience to set up and manage NAS products.
About the survey: In-Stat's Worldwide SMB Network-Attached Storage: Technology and Service Innovation Drive High Growth, (#IN1105046CT) provides survey results and coverage of the small and medium business (SMB) NAS market, including survey data relating to the use of NAS and cloud services, as well as an in depth overview of the market and technology trends.
Contact: http://www.in-stat.com
More than 70 percent of small and medium-size businesses (SMBs) that use cloud-based storage solutions also use networked-attached storage (NAS).
While SMB NAS represents a smaller portion of the total NAS market, SMB NAS is expected to grow at a much faster rate over the forecast period with revenues reaching $2 billion in 2015, says In-Stat .
Network-attached storage is a specialized server connected to a network that provides file-based data storage services to other devices on the network. NAS systems typically have the capability to support one or more hard disk drives (HDDs), and often include features such as RAID (redundant array of independent disks) and back up/replication services for all the devices attached to the network.
Findings:
-- 57.3 percent of SMB survey respondents use NAS technology products
-- North America and Europe will represent 84.6 percent of the revenue opportunity for the SMB NAS market.
-- Survey respondents that "don't use NAS" tend to have less than 50 employees.
Comment from Norm Bogen, VP Research, In-Stat: As the market has matured, the definition of NAS has taken on additional aspects. In particular, system management software has evolved into the most important feature of NAS adoption for several reasons, but primarily because it simplifies the user experience to set up and manage NAS products.
About the survey: In-Stat's Worldwide SMB Network-Attached Storage: Technology and Service Innovation Drive High Growth, (#IN1105046CT) provides survey results and coverage of the small and medium business (SMB) NAS market, including survey data relating to the use of NAS and cloud services, as well as an in depth overview of the market and technology trends.
Contact: http://www.in-stat.com
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
U.S. SMBs Show Strong Preference for Cloud "Bundling"
Small and medium business (SMB) technology buyers in the U.S. are increasingly allocating a larger proportion of their spending to cloud-based services. According to a recent survey, that proportion was 10 percent in 2010, but is forecasted to rise to more than 15 percent in 2015. As this migration into the cloud accelerates, SMB buyers are showing a strong inclination to purchase bundled cloud offerings as opposed to a stand-alone application.
For example, AMI research shows that 38 percent of U.S. SMBs have indicated a strong preference for obtaining software as a service (SaaS) as part of a package/bundle, versus only 11 percent who are interested in a single service. One third of U.S. SMBs are interested in bundling multiple hosted infrastructure and remotely managed services offerings, versus 9 percent of firms who only want a single service.
Comment from Donald Best of AMI: A significant segment of U.S. SMBs prefer to deploy multiple cloud services in order to achieve flexibility, ease of IT management, and lower CAPEX. This is also driving an evolution in the channel ecosystem, as communications service providers and hosts increasingly offer bundles including productivity suites and other cloud-based applications.
About the study: AMI's soon to be published 2011 U.S. SMB Cloud Playbook -- Strategic and Tactical GTM Guide details preferences for SaaS and hosted infrastructure bundling, as well as hosted unified communications and productivity/collaboration suite bundles.
Contact: http://www.ami-partners.com
For example, AMI research shows that 38 percent of U.S. SMBs have indicated a strong preference for obtaining software as a service (SaaS) as part of a package/bundle, versus only 11 percent who are interested in a single service. One third of U.S. SMBs are interested in bundling multiple hosted infrastructure and remotely managed services offerings, versus 9 percent of firms who only want a single service.
Comment from Donald Best of AMI: A significant segment of U.S. SMBs prefer to deploy multiple cloud services in order to achieve flexibility, ease of IT management, and lower CAPEX. This is also driving an evolution in the channel ecosystem, as communications service providers and hosts increasingly offer bundles including productivity suites and other cloud-based applications.
About the study: AMI's soon to be published 2011 U.S. SMB Cloud Playbook -- Strategic and Tactical GTM Guide details preferences for SaaS and hosted infrastructure bundling, as well as hosted unified communications and productivity/collaboration suite bundles.
Contact: http://www.ami-partners.com
Friday, May 6, 2011
Small Business Decision Makers Are Hazy On “Cloud Computing”
Following a traditional path of conservative investment in technology, small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) have been slow to adopt new technologies, such as cloud computing, according to a survey.
Only 10 percent of SMBs have deployed cloud technologies and 72 percent of respondents don't understand or are not familiar with the technology.
Of the businesses currently without cloud computing technologies, only 2 percent plan to deploy cloud-based solutions this year, with an additional 20 percent still weighing the cost and benefits of various solutions.
The survey also found that the IT role within SMBs is evolving to include business development and day-to-day operations responsibilities.
Of the 78 percent who indicated they have in-house support, 79 percent said that the role of IT is involved in other areas of the business, including operations, business development and sales. Of the 22 percent outsourcing support to vendors, 52 percent cited cost as the primary reason.
Comment from said Alex Terry, General Manager of Zoomerang: More often than not, the IT role within a small or midsize business may be fulfilled by the most technology savvy employee, requiring them to juggle multiple responsibilities on top of keeping the company's technology up and running. With limited resources, businesses are looking to every employee to contribute and as a result, the IT role is gradually shifting from one of support to one of support and revenue generation. As to the findings on cloud adoption, these numbers are quite staggering given that cloud vendors are investing huge amounts of money in marketing to showcase the benefits of cloud computing. This research points to the need for cloud vendors to instead educate business owners on what cloud computing means and how it is relevant to SMBs.
About the survey: The survey of more than 500 decision makers was conducted by Zoomerang Online Surveys and Polls. It provides a glimpse of how IT is managed among SMBs and offers a snapshot of cloud computing awareness and adoption.
Contact: Click here to view the report in its entirety.
Contact: http://www.markettools.com
Only 10 percent of SMBs have deployed cloud technologies and 72 percent of respondents don't understand or are not familiar with the technology.
Of the businesses currently without cloud computing technologies, only 2 percent plan to deploy cloud-based solutions this year, with an additional 20 percent still weighing the cost and benefits of various solutions.
The survey also found that the IT role within SMBs is evolving to include business development and day-to-day operations responsibilities.
Of the 78 percent who indicated they have in-house support, 79 percent said that the role of IT is involved in other areas of the business, including operations, business development and sales. Of the 22 percent outsourcing support to vendors, 52 percent cited cost as the primary reason.
Comment from said Alex Terry, General Manager of Zoomerang: More often than not, the IT role within a small or midsize business may be fulfilled by the most technology savvy employee, requiring them to juggle multiple responsibilities on top of keeping the company's technology up and running. With limited resources, businesses are looking to every employee to contribute and as a result, the IT role is gradually shifting from one of support to one of support and revenue generation. As to the findings on cloud adoption, these numbers are quite staggering given that cloud vendors are investing huge amounts of money in marketing to showcase the benefits of cloud computing. This research points to the need for cloud vendors to instead educate business owners on what cloud computing means and how it is relevant to SMBs.
About the survey: The survey of more than 500 decision makers was conducted by Zoomerang Online Surveys and Polls. It provides a glimpse of how IT is managed among SMBs and offers a snapshot of cloud computing awareness and adoption.
Contact: Click here to view the report in its entirety.
Contact: http://www.markettools.com
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
SMBs See Cloud Adoption As Way To Boost Productivity, ROI
Cloud-based business applications or AaaS (Anything as a Service) will be increasingly embraced by small and mid-size businesses to control costs, and return on investment (ROI) is a key factor in their decision-making, a survey has found.
Key findings:
-- ROI of increased productivity from office communications is the most compelling factor in technology adoption 88 percent cite "maximizing working capital and/or cash flow" as a major factor in SMB technology decisions
-- Minimizing total cost of ownership is the "ultimate goal" of adopting service-based offerings
-- Mobility and Unified Communications are recognized by a strong majority of those surveyed as key technologies to increase efficiency and profitability Most respondents see their current communications solutions as being "good," but 78 percent also seek to improve their capabilities
-- There is a very high amount of interest in cloud-based solutions and an excellent prognosis for cloud-based AaaS (Anything as a Service), with market opportunities still emerging
Comment from Fonality president and CEO, Dean Mansfield: Based on the results of this survey, it's clear that SMBs see the value of cloud-based solutions and are eager to benefit from a productivity and ROI perspective. Cloud-based communications tools in particular can be leveraged by companies to drive competitive differentiation while maximizing working capital.
Comment from Steve Taylor, editor-in-chief and publisher for Webtorials: The needs of small and mid-size businesses differ significantly from large enterprises. This study shows that SMBs have a notable disposition to leveraging cloud-based technology to enhance their operations and their communications capabilities in particular.
About the survey: Fonality's survey, conducted by Webtorials, polled highly skilled, technically proficient professionals considered to be on the "leading edge" of technology adoption.
Contact: The complete findings are here.
Key findings:
-- ROI of increased productivity from office communications is the most compelling factor in technology adoption 88 percent cite "maximizing working capital and/or cash flow" as a major factor in SMB technology decisions
-- Minimizing total cost of ownership is the "ultimate goal" of adopting service-based offerings
-- Mobility and Unified Communications are recognized by a strong majority of those surveyed as key technologies to increase efficiency and profitability Most respondents see their current communications solutions as being "good," but 78 percent also seek to improve their capabilities
-- There is a very high amount of interest in cloud-based solutions and an excellent prognosis for cloud-based AaaS (Anything as a Service), with market opportunities still emerging
Comment from Fonality president and CEO, Dean Mansfield: Based on the results of this survey, it's clear that SMBs see the value of cloud-based solutions and are eager to benefit from a productivity and ROI perspective. Cloud-based communications tools in particular can be leveraged by companies to drive competitive differentiation while maximizing working capital.
Comment from Steve Taylor, editor-in-chief and publisher for Webtorials: The needs of small and mid-size businesses differ significantly from large enterprises. This study shows that SMBs have a notable disposition to leveraging cloud-based technology to enhance their operations and their communications capabilities in particular.
About the survey: Fonality's survey, conducted by Webtorials, polled highly skilled, technically proficient professionals considered to be on the "leading edge" of technology adoption.
Contact: The complete findings are here.
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
SMBs Are Aware Of Private Clouds, But Prefer Public Clouds
Among small and medium businesses (SMBs), awareness of private clouds is 62 percent, highest as compared to public and hybrid clouds, a survey has found. However, given a choice, 44 percent of SMBs prefer to use public clouds as opposed to private and hybrid clouds.
While the awareness of hybrid clouds is 43 percent among SMBs, only 21 percent prefer to use this form of the cloud. A higher percentage of mid-market businesses are adopting hybrid clouds as compared to small businesses. Both private and hybrid clouds require presence of IT staff, which only a small percentage of SMBs have.
The usage of cloud services such as IaaS/PaaS varies by employee size. Among those SMBs that are using cloud computing, 37 percent are using IaaS/PaaS cloud, and 31 percent are using CaaS. Public IaaS is predominant for all employee categories but is markedly higher for 1-49 employee category. The sweet spot for vendors targeting public CaaS services is the 1-19 employee category.
MBs appear to have greater clarity with regards to the reasons for adopting cloud services. Overall, the top reasons for adopting cloud services by SMBs is faster deployment time and allowing IT staff to focus on more important business needs. "Service responsiveness and uptime" are gaining importance as key selling points for vendors.
Comment from Anurag Agrawal of Techaisle: As cloud computing vendors are pushing private clouds for enterprises, the same messaging seems to be trickling down to the SMBs. Hence, there is a greater awareness about private clouds for SMBs. Additionally, SMBs' concern for security, data privacy, and lack of control in using cloud computing is adding to the awareness of private clouds. The preference for public clouds among SMBs comes from the lower cost of setup, scalability and no wasted resources.
About the survey: Techaisle conducted the SMB survey across the U.S., UK, Germany and Brazil.
Contact: http://www.techaisle.com
While the awareness of hybrid clouds is 43 percent among SMBs, only 21 percent prefer to use this form of the cloud. A higher percentage of mid-market businesses are adopting hybrid clouds as compared to small businesses. Both private and hybrid clouds require presence of IT staff, which only a small percentage of SMBs have.
The usage of cloud services such as IaaS/PaaS varies by employee size. Among those SMBs that are using cloud computing, 37 percent are using IaaS/PaaS cloud, and 31 percent are using CaaS. Public IaaS is predominant for all employee categories but is markedly higher for 1-49 employee category. The sweet spot for vendors targeting public CaaS services is the 1-19 employee category.
MBs appear to have greater clarity with regards to the reasons for adopting cloud services. Overall, the top reasons for adopting cloud services by SMBs is faster deployment time and allowing IT staff to focus on more important business needs. "Service responsiveness and uptime" are gaining importance as key selling points for vendors.
Comment from Anurag Agrawal of Techaisle: As cloud computing vendors are pushing private clouds for enterprises, the same messaging seems to be trickling down to the SMBs. Hence, there is a greater awareness about private clouds for SMBs. Additionally, SMBs' concern for security, data privacy, and lack of control in using cloud computing is adding to the awareness of private clouds. The preference for public clouds among SMBs comes from the lower cost of setup, scalability and no wasted resources.
About the survey: Techaisle conducted the SMB survey across the U.S., UK, Germany and Brazil.
Contact: http://www.techaisle.com
Virtualization, Cloud Pose Major Backup/Recovery Challenges To Businesses
While attitudes towards backup and recovery differ widely around the world, businesses everywhere want a single backup and recovery solution for physical, virtual and cloud environments, according to a global survey. The vast majority (68 percent) of IT managers agree that their greatest challenge in a hybrid environment is moving data between the three environments, yet the average business currently uses at least two or three separate backup solutions making disaster recovery (DR) more complicated.
On the global scale, U.S. small- and medium-sized companies fell short of the international average, ranking 10th overall for backup and DR readiness. Approximately a third of U.S. businesses reported having no backup and DR strategy in place, citing lack of budget and resources as the primary reasons.
Without these resources and technologies to fortify a DR strategy, more than half (62 percent) reported they were concerned about their ability to avoid substantial downtime in the event of a serious incident. With only 40 percent saying they were confident in recovering quickly, and 38 percent believing their IT staffs were qualified to handle DR operations in response to an event or disaster. Overall, the findings revealed that the U.S. spent consistently less (10 percent) on backup and DR than other countries.
Key findings include:
-- Very confident:Germany, Netherlands and Switzerland: This group of countries has the best boardroom buy-in, controls and procedures and documented policies for their backup and DR operations. As a result they have the highest confidence that they can recover quickly in the event of system downtime, more than 50 percent more confident than the average.
-- Confident: Singapore, Hong Kong and Japan: This group has the best qualified staff in place to execute backup and DR operations in the wake of a serious incident. Surprisingly they are the most likely to use separate backup solutions for physical and virtual environments (67 percent, 66 percent and 70 percent of organizations respectively).
-- The Middle Ground: Norway and Sweden: Swedish and Norwegian businesses spend a lot more of their overall IT budget on backup and DR than any other country surveyed (16 percent and 17 percent respectively). However, they are the least likely to embrace cloud computing. While most countries will average an 87 percent increase in cloud-based IT over the next 12 months, Sweden and Norway use of the cloud will grow little more than 20 percent during the same period.
-- The laggards -- UK, Australia and the United States: Businesses in the UK, Australia and the U.S. all scored poorly on their confidence in their ability to avoid downtime in the event of a serious incident (27 percent/44 percent/38 percent). When it comes to successfully recovering from a serious incident, the Australians were the least confident. Just 22 percent of Australian businesses felt that they would be able to recover quickly in the event of downtime, compared to a global average of 50 percent.
-- Room to grow: France and Italy: These countries are the most likely to admit that they do not have an offsite backup and DR strategy (41 percent/45 percent) and the least likely to be able to recover quickly from downtime. They spend the lowest percentage of overall IT budget of all countries surveyed at 5 percent and 4 percent respectively. Server virtualisation adoption rates are also among the lowest. However, French and Italian businesses expect to see their use of cloud grow by 23 percent and 350 percent respectively over the next 12 months.
Comment from Jason Donahue, CEO of Acronis: It's not surprising that IT managers across the world differ so much with regards to their attitudes towards backup and DR. However, it is clear that what SMBs are looking for, regardless of location is one reliable, easy-to-use solution which spans across physical, virtual and cloud platforms. By launching this Index, we hope businesses will benefit from comparing their backup practices against national and global benchmarks.
About the survey: The Acronis-sponsored survey -- the Global Disaster Recovery Index, a "barometer" of IT managers' confidence in their backup and recovery operations -- was conducted by the Ponemon Institute across 13 countries in October 2010. More than 3,000 IT practitioners were surveyed in small- to mid-market organizations with no more than 1,000 seats. To create the Index, each country was ranked based on its average responses from 11 questions about their confidence in backup and DR readiness, capabilities and practices. Questions covered technology, resources, procedures and executive buy-in.
Contact: Details of how the index was calculated and where each country appears can be found here.
Contact: http://www.acronis.com
On the global scale, U.S. small- and medium-sized companies fell short of the international average, ranking 10th overall for backup and DR readiness. Approximately a third of U.S. businesses reported having no backup and DR strategy in place, citing lack of budget and resources as the primary reasons.
Without these resources and technologies to fortify a DR strategy, more than half (62 percent) reported they were concerned about their ability to avoid substantial downtime in the event of a serious incident. With only 40 percent saying they were confident in recovering quickly, and 38 percent believing their IT staffs were qualified to handle DR operations in response to an event or disaster. Overall, the findings revealed that the U.S. spent consistently less (10 percent) on backup and DR than other countries.
Key findings include:
-- Very confident:Germany, Netherlands and Switzerland: This group of countries has the best boardroom buy-in, controls and procedures and documented policies for their backup and DR operations. As a result they have the highest confidence that they can recover quickly in the event of system downtime, more than 50 percent more confident than the average.
-- Confident: Singapore, Hong Kong and Japan: This group has the best qualified staff in place to execute backup and DR operations in the wake of a serious incident. Surprisingly they are the most likely to use separate backup solutions for physical and virtual environments (67 percent, 66 percent and 70 percent of organizations respectively).
-- The Middle Ground: Norway and Sweden: Swedish and Norwegian businesses spend a lot more of their overall IT budget on backup and DR than any other country surveyed (16 percent and 17 percent respectively). However, they are the least likely to embrace cloud computing. While most countries will average an 87 percent increase in cloud-based IT over the next 12 months, Sweden and Norway use of the cloud will grow little more than 20 percent during the same period.
-- The laggards -- UK, Australia and the United States: Businesses in the UK, Australia and the U.S. all scored poorly on their confidence in their ability to avoid downtime in the event of a serious incident (27 percent/44 percent/38 percent). When it comes to successfully recovering from a serious incident, the Australians were the least confident. Just 22 percent of Australian businesses felt that they would be able to recover quickly in the event of downtime, compared to a global average of 50 percent.
-- Room to grow: France and Italy: These countries are the most likely to admit that they do not have an offsite backup and DR strategy (41 percent/45 percent) and the least likely to be able to recover quickly from downtime. They spend the lowest percentage of overall IT budget of all countries surveyed at 5 percent and 4 percent respectively. Server virtualisation adoption rates are also among the lowest. However, French and Italian businesses expect to see their use of cloud grow by 23 percent and 350 percent respectively over the next 12 months.
Comment from Jason Donahue, CEO of Acronis: It's not surprising that IT managers across the world differ so much with regards to their attitudes towards backup and DR. However, it is clear that what SMBs are looking for, regardless of location is one reliable, easy-to-use solution which spans across physical, virtual and cloud platforms. By launching this Index, we hope businesses will benefit from comparing their backup practices against national and global benchmarks.
About the survey: The Acronis-sponsored survey -- the Global Disaster Recovery Index, a "barometer" of IT managers' confidence in their backup and recovery operations -- was conducted by the Ponemon Institute across 13 countries in October 2010. More than 3,000 IT practitioners were surveyed in small- to mid-market organizations with no more than 1,000 seats. To create the Index, each country was ranked based on its average responses from 11 questions about their confidence in backup and DR readiness, capabilities and practices. Questions covered technology, resources, procedures and executive buy-in.
Contact: Details of how the index was calculated and where each country appears can be found here.
Contact: http://www.acronis.com
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Cloud Adoption Triggering Fundamental Changes In Mid-Market And SMB
Migration to the Cloud is accelerating, according to a study, as 44 percent of companies claim to have at least one business application on the cloud and over 70 percent indicate they will move more within the next 12 months
Other findings:
-- Mobility Drives Cloud Migration: 38 percent of respondents indicated that the need to support greater workforce mobility is a trigger for cloud adoption
-- Early Adopters are Growth Companies: Companies growing >10 percent per year were nearly twice as likely to move software and infrastructure to the cloud
-- Marketing, Sales Most Accepted Cloud Applications: While 36 percent of companies using marketing automation do so via the cloud, and 29 percent of CRM is cloud-deployed, >49 percent of companies are planning to move one or more of these applications to the cloud within 12 months
-- Private Cloud Networks Preferred: 52 percent of respondents preferred to deploy on some sort of "private cloud" as oppose to multi-tenant public clouds
-- Better Security Becoming a Cloud Asset: 48 percent of respondents believed that data security would actually be better on the cloud, recognizing the investment and expertise needed to establish and maintain secure computing environments
-- 3rd Party Channels Remain Critical: 67 percent of respondents preferred to purchase software applications through a 3rd party value-added managed service provider; this appears to be due to a need for both higher service levels and functional expertise
Comment from Tim Furey, founder of MarketBridge: Adoption of cloud-based information technology by mid-market and SMB companies -- particularly in customer facing business processes such as Marketing, Sales, and Customer Intelligence -- is being accepted more rapidly than many industry analysts originally predicted. While the practicality and challenges of cloud migration may slow down C-level executives' aggressive expectations, there is no doubt that the shift will happen rapidly over the next 2-3 years. The CEO and other senior executives outside of IT are more involved in these decisions than ever, and their level of cloud technology understanding is surprisingly high.
About the study: The study comprised the preliminary findings of a December survey of 1,000 North American mid-market and small businesses and their adoption of cloud-based information technologies. The research was performed by MarketBridge, a provider of technology-enabled Marketing & Sales Managed Services and Solutions. In parallel with its "Customer Cloud Adoption" research, MarketBridge is also completing research on "Channel Cloud Adoption" to understand how traditional resellers of on-premise software and hardware are adapting to the rapid migration to off-premise and shared IT infrastructure.
Contact: http://www.market-bridge.com
Other findings:
-- Mobility Drives Cloud Migration: 38 percent of respondents indicated that the need to support greater workforce mobility is a trigger for cloud adoption
-- Early Adopters are Growth Companies: Companies growing >10 percent per year were nearly twice as likely to move software and infrastructure to the cloud
-- Marketing, Sales Most Accepted Cloud Applications: While 36 percent of companies using marketing automation do so via the cloud, and 29 percent of CRM is cloud-deployed, >49 percent of companies are planning to move one or more of these applications to the cloud within 12 months
-- Private Cloud Networks Preferred: 52 percent of respondents preferred to deploy on some sort of "private cloud" as oppose to multi-tenant public clouds
-- Better Security Becoming a Cloud Asset: 48 percent of respondents believed that data security would actually be better on the cloud, recognizing the investment and expertise needed to establish and maintain secure computing environments
-- 3rd Party Channels Remain Critical: 67 percent of respondents preferred to purchase software applications through a 3rd party value-added managed service provider; this appears to be due to a need for both higher service levels and functional expertise
Comment from Tim Furey, founder of MarketBridge: Adoption of cloud-based information technology by mid-market and SMB companies -- particularly in customer facing business processes such as Marketing, Sales, and Customer Intelligence -- is being accepted more rapidly than many industry analysts originally predicted. While the practicality and challenges of cloud migration may slow down C-level executives' aggressive expectations, there is no doubt that the shift will happen rapidly over the next 2-3 years. The CEO and other senior executives outside of IT are more involved in these decisions than ever, and their level of cloud technology understanding is surprisingly high.
About the study: The study comprised the preliminary findings of a December survey of 1,000 North American mid-market and small businesses and their adoption of cloud-based information technologies. The research was performed by MarketBridge, a provider of technology-enabled Marketing & Sales Managed Services and Solutions. In parallel with its "Customer Cloud Adoption" research, MarketBridge is also completing research on "Channel Cloud Adoption" to understand how traditional resellers of on-premise software and hardware are adapting to the rapid migration to off-premise and shared IT infrastructure.
Contact: http://www.market-bridge.com
Small And Mid-Sized Businesses Gain Disaster Recovery Advantages Using Cloud Storage
Companies that utilize public Cloud storage recover almost four-times faster from an IT-related downtime event than organizations that only store their business critical data onsite, according to a study. Small and mid-sized organizations are gaining the most disaster recovery advantages as they are utilizing public Cloud storage more often than larger companies. Companies utilizing public Cloud storage are, on average, meeting all of their Recovery Time Objectives (RTOs) while organizations not using the Cloud are regularly missing their RTO goals.
The research found:
-- Companies that utilize public Cloud storage are far more likely to have a superior disaster recovery program. Forty-six percent (46 percent) of public Cloud storage users were found to have the highest performing disaster recovery programs.
-- Cloud and non-Cloud storage users both have similar RTOs of about 12 hours. Users of Cloud storage, on average meet this RTO goal 100 percent of the time while non-adopters of Cloud storage report they meet only 80 percent of this objective.
-- Companies that store copies of their business critical data in the public Cloud report they have, on average reduced the number of IT-related downtime events by 9 percent over the last 12 months versus a reduction of only 4.7 percent for organizations that keep their data onsite.
Comment from Dick Csaplar, Senior Research Analyst and author of the study: Public Cloud-based storage offers small and mid-sized organizations a disaster recovery advantage that formerly was available only to larger companies -- the ability to store copies of business critical data at a remote location. Users of public Cloud storage are more likely to be among the leaders of reducing or eliminating IT-related downtime than organizations that keep their data onsite.
About the study: The research is based on a survey of the storage and DR practices of over 100 worldwide companies.
Contact: To obtain a complimentary copy of the report, visit http://www.aberdeen.com/link/sponsor.asp?spid=30410182&cid=6827&camp=2.
Contact: http://www.aberdeen.com
The research found:
-- Companies that utilize public Cloud storage are far more likely to have a superior disaster recovery program. Forty-six percent (46 percent) of public Cloud storage users were found to have the highest performing disaster recovery programs.
-- Cloud and non-Cloud storage users both have similar RTOs of about 12 hours. Users of Cloud storage, on average meet this RTO goal 100 percent of the time while non-adopters of Cloud storage report they meet only 80 percent of this objective.
-- Companies that store copies of their business critical data in the public Cloud report they have, on average reduced the number of IT-related downtime events by 9 percent over the last 12 months versus a reduction of only 4.7 percent for organizations that keep their data onsite.
Comment from Dick Csaplar, Senior Research Analyst and author of the study: Public Cloud-based storage offers small and mid-sized organizations a disaster recovery advantage that formerly was available only to larger companies -- the ability to store copies of business critical data at a remote location. Users of public Cloud storage are more likely to be among the leaders of reducing or eliminating IT-related downtime than organizations that keep their data onsite.
About the study: The research is based on a survey of the storage and DR practices of over 100 worldwide companies.
Contact: To obtain a complimentary copy of the report, visit http://www.aberdeen.com/link/sponsor.asp?spid=30410182&cid=6827&camp=2.
Contact: http://www.aberdeen.com
SaaS Spending Among India SMBs Will Grow 40 percent In 2011
Small and medium business (SMB) spending in India on Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), a key component of cloud computing, is anticipated to rise by a sizable 43 percent in 2011, according to a study. More than 10 percent of Internet-owning India SMBs have shown interest in adopting cloud computing in the next year. Medium businesses (organizations with 100-999 full-time employees) have displayed significantly higher interest than their smaller counterparts.
Other enablers of cloud adoption have also reached significant usage levels within India Internet SMBs.
The study also notes that infrastructure is gradually falling into place to support greater cloud growth within India SMBs. The availability of affordable and quality broadband services (thanks to the efforts of key ISPs) is a major driver not only for cloud computing but all Internet-based technology adoption. The development of virtualization is another key booster. Moreover, implementation of cloud-based solutions reduces the organization's need and dependability on skilled IT personnel.
Comment from Kalyan Banga, Senior Research Analyst at AMI-India: Mobility, telecommuting, notebooks, smart phones -- all are playing an important role in cloud adoption. Hence, it is becoming increasingly evident that the entire ecosystem and the players within it are steadily gearing up for cloud adoption.Among India Internet SMBs, almost half have a mobile workforce and over one fifth provide telecommuting options to their employees. The need for anytime, anywhere data access is a key driver of cloud computing in India. There are other factors at play as well that are triggering interest in cloud computing in India. In the aftermath of the economic downturn, cost-conscious India SMBs are tightening their purse strings. Cloud computing is appealing as it requires less of a financial burden through zero CAPEX and minimal OPEX. The development of an appropriate ecosystem is another crucial factor that is boosting Cloud Computing deployment. This is true since major ecosystem players such as Telco/ISPs, ISVs, SIs, aggregators, web developers, content providers, etc., have been developing their capabilities and technical infrastructure to be able to provide better and robust cloud computing services to end-users. Other than creating awareness, the partner community has a vital role in acting as the connecting link between cloud vendors and end-users. The success of cloud computing will depend on the last mile connectivity. Since India SMBs are geographically dispersed, heterogeneous in nature and challenging to tap, the role of the Channel Partner is particularly vital in the India SMB space. Choosing the right cloud partner is a critical component for ensuring a successful and long-term partnership. It is necessary to ensure that the cloud provider is ready to support the India SMB and share in both its challenges and achievements.
About the study: AMI's 2010-2011 Worldwide SMB Cloud Service studies examine the SMB Cloud opportunity in 30+ countries, including SMB preference for Cloud-based application bundle, price sensitivity and purchase channel preferences.The recently completed AMI study, "2010-2011 India SMB State of the Cloud Market Overview," was conducted across major as well as Tier II cities. These studies also provide comprehensive coverage of SMB adoption of Cloud-based applications, managed services, and supporting infrastructure, including platforms and devices. These studies will provide a roadmap for successful Cloud go-to-market strategies and tactics.
Contact: http://www.ami-partners.com
Other enablers of cloud adoption have also reached significant usage levels within India Internet SMBs.
The study also notes that infrastructure is gradually falling into place to support greater cloud growth within India SMBs. The availability of affordable and quality broadband services (thanks to the efforts of key ISPs) is a major driver not only for cloud computing but all Internet-based technology adoption. The development of virtualization is another key booster. Moreover, implementation of cloud-based solutions reduces the organization's need and dependability on skilled IT personnel.
Comment from Kalyan Banga, Senior Research Analyst at AMI-India: Mobility, telecommuting, notebooks, smart phones -- all are playing an important role in cloud adoption. Hence, it is becoming increasingly evident that the entire ecosystem and the players within it are steadily gearing up for cloud adoption.Among India Internet SMBs, almost half have a mobile workforce and over one fifth provide telecommuting options to their employees. The need for anytime, anywhere data access is a key driver of cloud computing in India. There are other factors at play as well that are triggering interest in cloud computing in India. In the aftermath of the economic downturn, cost-conscious India SMBs are tightening their purse strings. Cloud computing is appealing as it requires less of a financial burden through zero CAPEX and minimal OPEX. The development of an appropriate ecosystem is another crucial factor that is boosting Cloud Computing deployment. This is true since major ecosystem players such as Telco/ISPs, ISVs, SIs, aggregators, web developers, content providers, etc., have been developing their capabilities and technical infrastructure to be able to provide better and robust cloud computing services to end-users. Other than creating awareness, the partner community has a vital role in acting as the connecting link between cloud vendors and end-users. The success of cloud computing will depend on the last mile connectivity. Since India SMBs are geographically dispersed, heterogeneous in nature and challenging to tap, the role of the Channel Partner is particularly vital in the India SMB space. Choosing the right cloud partner is a critical component for ensuring a successful and long-term partnership. It is necessary to ensure that the cloud provider is ready to support the India SMB and share in both its challenges and achievements.
About the study: AMI's 2010-2011 Worldwide SMB Cloud Service studies examine the SMB Cloud opportunity in 30+ countries, including SMB preference for Cloud-based application bundle, price sensitivity and purchase channel preferences.The recently completed AMI study, "2010-2011 India SMB State of the Cloud Market Overview," was conducted across major as well as Tier II cities. These studies also provide comprehensive coverage of SMB adoption of Cloud-based applications, managed services, and supporting infrastructure, including platforms and devices. These studies will provide a roadmap for successful Cloud go-to-market strategies and tactics.
Contact: http://www.ami-partners.com
Friday, December 3, 2010
SMBs Are Overworked, Cutting Corners, Engaging in Risky Technology Behavior
Resource-and-cash-strapped small businesses struggling to cut costs in a slow economy are leaving simple cost savings options on the table and putting data at risk, according to a recent survey. The survey uncovered several peculiar - and in some cases alarming -- technology practices including relying on "piggybacking" on nearby WiFi networks and saving critical business files on USB thumb drives.
Small business professionals are stretched thin staffwise, and fierce competition means more and more employees will be working on vacation over the holidays.
More than four in five (85 percent) small business professionals agree they conduct work outside of the office. A clear majority (72 percent) of respondents rarely take an email-free vacation.
To keep up with their hefty workload, many respondents agreed they rely on a mobile device such as a laptop or smart phone. The most preferred devices are laptops (38 percent) and smart phones (31 percent).
Data loss can be detrimental to any business. The loss of critical spreadsheets, marketing material and worse, customer information, can cost businesses a considerable amount of time and money to recover lost data, if at all.
Despite the consequences of data loss, the survey indicates that many small businesses are backing up critical business data using highly disposable and insecure methods:
While 40 percent of small businesses back up files to external hard drives, an alarming 50 percent of respondents said they or their company use USB thumb drives and CDs/DVDs to backup important information.
Other secure and cost-effective means of data storage, such as Web-based cloud storage, were seldom used by the small businesses surveyed:
-- While 43 percent of respondents are at least somewhat familiar with cloud computing, only 13 percent say they are using an online storage service -- the least of all backup methods cited.
-- For many respondents, WiFi in their home or office is the primary means of connecting to the Internet with their company-issued laptop. However, some respondents admitted to connecting to unsecured WiFi networks ("piggybacking") in order to conduct business:
-- 25 percent of respondents reported they or someone in their company piggyback other available WiFi networks to conduct business. Almost one in five senior-level executives (17 percent) and proprietor/owners (17 percent) surveyed say they piggyback on wireless networks.
Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) has the potential to bring cost efficiency to any small business through free or low-cost audio and video communication via the Internet. Despite the cost benefits, the study found that:
-- Seventy percent of small businesses are not using VoIP for business calls. Almost nine in 10 (87 percent) small business professionals are somewhat or not at all familiar with the term "unified communications," which is the integration of voice, video, audio and instant messaging tools.
The results of the survey highlight the importance that small businesses place on personal brand reputation and appearance. Revealing the need to make a good first impression in a business meeting or new business pitch, the survey found nearly 70 percent of respondents agreed that the appearance of a laptop issued by a small business is a reflection of that company's commitment to quality and service.
About the survey: The Lenovo-AMD Small Business Tech Survey sought to identify common issues and trends in technology use by small businesses. The survey was conducted online within the United States by Harris Interactive on behalf of Lenovo between October 14 and November 9, 2010, among 722 adults aged 18 and over who owned or were employed by a small business with no more than 500 employees.
Contact: http://www.lenovo.com
Small business professionals are stretched thin staffwise, and fierce competition means more and more employees will be working on vacation over the holidays.
More than four in five (85 percent) small business professionals agree they conduct work outside of the office. A clear majority (72 percent) of respondents rarely take an email-free vacation.
To keep up with their hefty workload, many respondents agreed they rely on a mobile device such as a laptop or smart phone. The most preferred devices are laptops (38 percent) and smart phones (31 percent).
Data loss can be detrimental to any business. The loss of critical spreadsheets, marketing material and worse, customer information, can cost businesses a considerable amount of time and money to recover lost data, if at all.
Despite the consequences of data loss, the survey indicates that many small businesses are backing up critical business data using highly disposable and insecure methods:
While 40 percent of small businesses back up files to external hard drives, an alarming 50 percent of respondents said they or their company use USB thumb drives and CDs/DVDs to backup important information.
Other secure and cost-effective means of data storage, such as Web-based cloud storage, were seldom used by the small businesses surveyed:
-- While 43 percent of respondents are at least somewhat familiar with cloud computing, only 13 percent say they are using an online storage service -- the least of all backup methods cited.
-- For many respondents, WiFi in their home or office is the primary means of connecting to the Internet with their company-issued laptop. However, some respondents admitted to connecting to unsecured WiFi networks ("piggybacking") in order to conduct business:
-- 25 percent of respondents reported they or someone in their company piggyback other available WiFi networks to conduct business. Almost one in five senior-level executives (17 percent) and proprietor/owners (17 percent) surveyed say they piggyback on wireless networks.
Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) has the potential to bring cost efficiency to any small business through free or low-cost audio and video communication via the Internet. Despite the cost benefits, the study found that:
-- Seventy percent of small businesses are not using VoIP for business calls. Almost nine in 10 (87 percent) small business professionals are somewhat or not at all familiar with the term "unified communications," which is the integration of voice, video, audio and instant messaging tools.
The results of the survey highlight the importance that small businesses place on personal brand reputation and appearance. Revealing the need to make a good first impression in a business meeting or new business pitch, the survey found nearly 70 percent of respondents agreed that the appearance of a laptop issued by a small business is a reflection of that company's commitment to quality and service.
About the survey: The Lenovo-AMD Small Business Tech Survey sought to identify common issues and trends in technology use by small businesses. The survey was conducted online within the United States by Harris Interactive on behalf of Lenovo between October 14 and November 9, 2010, among 722 adults aged 18 and over who owned or were employed by a small business with no more than 500 employees.
Contact: http://www.lenovo.com
Friday, November 5, 2010
Three Critical Areas For SMB Cloud Application Adoption Success
An industry researcher suggests that small and medium businesses (SMBs) prioritize planning and management of the following areas to realize benefits from cloud-based applications:
-- Organizational: Organizational issues and people continue to provide the majority of obstacles to successful SaaS implementations. Training beyond simple "how to" instruction will aid adoption.
-- Technology: In most cases SaaS solutions need to link with existing business systems. Effective management of internal IT resources and/or external implementation partners is critical.
-- Operational Skills: While the need for software development and upgrading skills will lessen, more systems integration knowledge will likely be required. Also, a shift from capital to operational expenditures when deploying SaaS applications requires financial management adjustments.
Comment from Robert McNeill, Saugatuck Technology vice president: Our 2010 survey research indicates that CRM is one of the top five cloud-based applications being adopted by SMBs today, and is expected to lead SaaS adoption and deployment for SMBs through year-end 2012.
About the publication: Sage North America says that a white paper it sponsored "Software-as-a-Service: Managing Benefits for SMBs," by Saugatuck Technology, is available here.
Contact: http://www.sagenorthamerica.com
-- Organizational: Organizational issues and people continue to provide the majority of obstacles to successful SaaS implementations. Training beyond simple "how to" instruction will aid adoption.
-- Technology: In most cases SaaS solutions need to link with existing business systems. Effective management of internal IT resources and/or external implementation partners is critical.
-- Operational Skills: While the need for software development and upgrading skills will lessen, more systems integration knowledge will likely be required. Also, a shift from capital to operational expenditures when deploying SaaS applications requires financial management adjustments.
Comment from Robert McNeill, Saugatuck Technology vice president: Our 2010 survey research indicates that CRM is one of the top five cloud-based applications being adopted by SMBs today, and is expected to lead SaaS adoption and deployment for SMBs through year-end 2012.
About the publication: Sage North America says that a white paper it sponsored "Software-as-a-Service: Managing Benefits for SMBs," by Saugatuck Technology, is available here.
Contact: http://www.sagenorthamerica.com
Friday, October 22, 2010
Exponential Growth Expected For SaaS In The U.S. SMB Market
Small and medium business (SMB) spending in the U.S. on software-as-a-service (SaaS) will increase exponentially over the next five years, eclipsing growth in investments in on-premise software by a significant margin, according to data from AMI-Partners, which forecasts a 25 percent CAGR in hosted business application services spending through 2014.
This will come against a modest five percent uptick for all other categories of on-premise software combined. However, this growth will not be uniformly spread across all hosted applications. Mature applications such as ERP, SCM, procurement, finance, and core HR will turn over more slowly than those that are less saturated and have lower switching costs.
Comment from Helen Rosen, a Vice President with AMI-Partners: There is an entire marketplace trained on and running PC-based applications that will not disappear overnight. Much of these investments are in applications that are highly embedded, and would not be cost-effective to replace wholesale. In our opinion, there is immediate potential for vendors to capture incremental revenues from installed products through partial upgrades and add-ons delivered via SaaS. As an interim strategy, this could help vendors -- particularly those with large footprints of legacy applications -- protect their base, allow for an organic migration, and create a platform for an ecosystem of application enhancements to emerge. The cost advantages of SaaS could also have a big impact on how business process outsourcers (BPO) participate in the market opportunity going forward. Our research shows there is real opportunity for lower-cost hybrid models (SaaS + BPO) in which BPO is provisioned as a SaaS service running on a multi-tenant cloud platform. We see this as a game changer and long-term growth engine for outsourced services providers ... SaaS is now a mainstream alternative to on-premise business applications and BPO for a rapidly expanding portion of the small and mid-enterprise market. The multi-tenancy model offers U.S. SMBs comparable performance on a lower-cost basis and the flexibility to scale usage in line with shifting needs of their businesses. This is a value proposition that U.S. SMBs find highly attractive. The intense focus on cost management precipitated by an uncertain economy has also been an important catalyst of demand.
Contact: http://www.ami-partners.com
This will come against a modest five percent uptick for all other categories of on-premise software combined. However, this growth will not be uniformly spread across all hosted applications. Mature applications such as ERP, SCM, procurement, finance, and core HR will turn over more slowly than those that are less saturated and have lower switching costs.
Comment from Helen Rosen, a Vice President with AMI-Partners: There is an entire marketplace trained on and running PC-based applications that will not disappear overnight. Much of these investments are in applications that are highly embedded, and would not be cost-effective to replace wholesale. In our opinion, there is immediate potential for vendors to capture incremental revenues from installed products through partial upgrades and add-ons delivered via SaaS. As an interim strategy, this could help vendors -- particularly those with large footprints of legacy applications -- protect their base, allow for an organic migration, and create a platform for an ecosystem of application enhancements to emerge. The cost advantages of SaaS could also have a big impact on how business process outsourcers (BPO) participate in the market opportunity going forward. Our research shows there is real opportunity for lower-cost hybrid models (SaaS + BPO) in which BPO is provisioned as a SaaS service running on a multi-tenant cloud platform. We see this as a game changer and long-term growth engine for outsourced services providers ... SaaS is now a mainstream alternative to on-premise business applications and BPO for a rapidly expanding portion of the small and mid-enterprise market. The multi-tenancy model offers U.S. SMBs comparable performance on a lower-cost basis and the flexibility to scale usage in line with shifting needs of their businesses. This is a value proposition that U.S. SMBs find highly attractive. The intense focus on cost management precipitated by an uncertain economy has also been an important catalyst of demand.
Contact: http://www.ami-partners.com
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Many Small and Medium-sized Businesses Worry About IT Security
With limited resources, now more than ever, small- and medium-size business (SMBs) need to carefully consider the range of threats to their business and take action to protect and run their IT systems. Information security threats can be overwhelming and the risks require more than traditional perimeter and host defenses to protect critical business data.
Nearly 60 percent of respondents to a new survey said they are concerned about network security threats. In addition, more than 70 percent said that if an IT security incident took their business offline for one day it would significantly impact their business or potentially put them out of business altogether. Meanwhile, IT outsourcing has emerged as an important trend for SMBs challenged to maintain IT systems which are increasingly difficult to manage internally. The survey revealed that 40 percent of SMBs use external IT support to help run their operations.
Additional key findings from the Staples Advantage survey include:
-- IT is mission-critical. More than half (51 percent) of respondents said IT support personnel should be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
-- Telecommuting and security. Nearly 60 percent of respondents say telecommuting is a key way they plan to trim costs in the year ahead. This can be an IT security risk without adequate security practices and employee awareness.
-- Data retention. To satisfy certain legal and regulatory requirements, businesses need a way to store and protect certain business information. According to the survey, more than 40 percent of respondents say their organization does not have company policies in place regarding the storage and retention of email, as an example.
-- Data protection and employee transitions. Employee transitions are an often overlooked risk to company security. Only one in four respondents said they monitor activity to ensure departing employees are not downloading proprietary information. Additionally, 40 percent have not changed network passwords associated with certain departing employees.
To help IT managers and those responsible for IT decisions increase network security and avoid IT downtime, experts at Staples Advantage offer SMBs the following five tips:
-- Adopt a multi-layer security strategy. Just as bumpers, airbags and seat belts all work together to protect passengers in a car, implement security measures at the file, email data store and gateway levels to properly protect data against viruses.
-- Make sure all machines are up-to-date with patches and security update downloads.
-- Use encryption to protect your sensitive data. Enable encryption on wireless networks, and optionally use passwords and encryption software to protect individual files. Use file permissions to control access to sensitive data, and consider installing software that monitors and logs who accesses what data, and when.
-- Invest in multiple connections to the Internet. Leasing and maintaining dual connections to the Internet is no longer an expensive proposition. Using two connections to the Internet, each from a different provider, greatly reduces the potential impact of connectivity interruptions to email, Web and VoIP services.
-- Avoid costly hardware failure by investing in hardware redundancy. Use a service that monitors hardware for uptime and critical performance metrics. Robust monitoring platforms that can dig down to the machine level are best. Carefully assess service providers. Before choosing an external provider of cloud services or any SaaS application, carefully research their service level agreements, infrastructure, redundancy and disaster recovery provisions. When possible, use multiple vendors to eliminate single points of service failure.
Comment from Jim Lippie, president, Thrive Networks, the IT network services business of Staples Advantage: The survey findings help show that IT managed services is becoming a "must have" rather than a "nice to have" for SMBs. A majority of small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are concerned about threats to IT security while many of them can increase steps to help protect their business information.
About the survey: Staples Advantage conducted an online survey of business decision makers at more than 100 small and medium-sized businesses across the US. The survey asked a series of questions about IT and its impact to business operations, taking into account a variety of technologies ranging from personal computers to smartphones.
Contact: http://www.staplesadvantage.com/technology
Nearly 60 percent of respondents to a new survey said they are concerned about network security threats. In addition, more than 70 percent said that if an IT security incident took their business offline for one day it would significantly impact their business or potentially put them out of business altogether. Meanwhile, IT outsourcing has emerged as an important trend for SMBs challenged to maintain IT systems which are increasingly difficult to manage internally. The survey revealed that 40 percent of SMBs use external IT support to help run their operations.
Additional key findings from the Staples Advantage survey include:
-- IT is mission-critical. More than half (51 percent) of respondents said IT support personnel should be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
-- Telecommuting and security. Nearly 60 percent of respondents say telecommuting is a key way they plan to trim costs in the year ahead. This can be an IT security risk without adequate security practices and employee awareness.
-- Data retention. To satisfy certain legal and regulatory requirements, businesses need a way to store and protect certain business information. According to the survey, more than 40 percent of respondents say their organization does not have company policies in place regarding the storage and retention of email, as an example.
-- Data protection and employee transitions. Employee transitions are an often overlooked risk to company security. Only one in four respondents said they monitor activity to ensure departing employees are not downloading proprietary information. Additionally, 40 percent have not changed network passwords associated with certain departing employees.
To help IT managers and those responsible for IT decisions increase network security and avoid IT downtime, experts at Staples Advantage offer SMBs the following five tips:
-- Adopt a multi-layer security strategy. Just as bumpers, airbags and seat belts all work together to protect passengers in a car, implement security measures at the file, email data store and gateway levels to properly protect data against viruses.
-- Make sure all machines are up-to-date with patches and security update downloads.
-- Use encryption to protect your sensitive data. Enable encryption on wireless networks, and optionally use passwords and encryption software to protect individual files. Use file permissions to control access to sensitive data, and consider installing software that monitors and logs who accesses what data, and when.
-- Invest in multiple connections to the Internet. Leasing and maintaining dual connections to the Internet is no longer an expensive proposition. Using two connections to the Internet, each from a different provider, greatly reduces the potential impact of connectivity interruptions to email, Web and VoIP services.
-- Avoid costly hardware failure by investing in hardware redundancy. Use a service that monitors hardware for uptime and critical performance metrics. Robust monitoring platforms that can dig down to the machine level are best. Carefully assess service providers. Before choosing an external provider of cloud services or any SaaS application, carefully research their service level agreements, infrastructure, redundancy and disaster recovery provisions. When possible, use multiple vendors to eliminate single points of service failure.
Comment from Jim Lippie, president, Thrive Networks, the IT network services business of Staples Advantage: The survey findings help show that IT managed services is becoming a "must have" rather than a "nice to have" for SMBs. A majority of small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are concerned about threats to IT security while many of them can increase steps to help protect their business information.
About the survey: Staples Advantage conducted an online survey of business decision makers at more than 100 small and medium-sized businesses across the US. The survey asked a series of questions about IT and its impact to business operations, taking into account a variety of technologies ranging from personal computers to smartphones.
Contact: http://www.staplesadvantage.com/technology
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Cloud Computing Adoption Among SMBs Is Following Outsourcing Trends
While use of Cloud services varies by size of SMB, the pattern of adoption appears to follow a previously observed pattern related to adoption of outsourcing, a survey has found. In both cases, rather than seeing greater adoption with business size, adoption rises and falls as businesses first use Cloud services then as they grow they attempt to bring solutions in-house and use Cloud services again in order to support growth.
The inflection point for adoption occurs at 20 employees. Small businesses with 20-99 employees typically expand their use of Cloud services and appear to maintain that level of usage until they hit 250 employees. At this level, SMBs begin to bring services back in-house as IT investments rise. Adoption of Cloud services rises sharply again as SMBs exceed 500 employees.
When looked at as a single group, SMBs are largely adopting some core infrastructure applications and applications specific to their industry. Security and additional storage appear to be the most popular applications along with industry specific applications and hosted email. The picture is substantially different for MBs (100-999 employees) and SBs (1-99 employees) taken separately. Mid-market businesses display a greater willingness to adopt hosted infrastructure and platform solutions than small businesses. Very small businesses' (<10 employees) use of Cloud services is characterized largely by Industry specific applications and Cloud storage services.
Conclusion: Mid market firms are a better target for hosted platforms and infrastructure-as-a-service solutions.
The US SMB Cloud Computing report from Techaisle is now available for purchase. Surveys were also conducted in the UK and Germany.
Contact: http://www.techaisle.com
The inflection point for adoption occurs at 20 employees. Small businesses with 20-99 employees typically expand their use of Cloud services and appear to maintain that level of usage until they hit 250 employees. At this level, SMBs begin to bring services back in-house as IT investments rise. Adoption of Cloud services rises sharply again as SMBs exceed 500 employees.
When looked at as a single group, SMBs are largely adopting some core infrastructure applications and applications specific to their industry. Security and additional storage appear to be the most popular applications along with industry specific applications and hosted email. The picture is substantially different for MBs (100-999 employees) and SBs (1-99 employees) taken separately. Mid-market businesses display a greater willingness to adopt hosted infrastructure and platform solutions than small businesses. Very small businesses' (<10 employees) use of Cloud services is characterized largely by Industry specific applications and Cloud storage services.
Conclusion: Mid market firms are a better target for hosted platforms and infrastructure-as-a-service solutions.
The US SMB Cloud Computing report from Techaisle is now available for purchase. Surveys were also conducted in the UK and Germany.
Contact: http://www.techaisle.com
Friday, October 1, 2010
Use Of Cloud Services Begins To Impact SMB ICT Shipments
U.S. small and medium-size businesses (SMBs) are rapidly increasing their use of cloud services, which is beginning to reduce their need for on-premise information and communications technology (ICT) equipment and is also allowing them more flexibility in the types of mobile devices they use. This, in turn, is beginning to affect the demand patterns for on-premise ICT hardware like servers, storage & networking as well client devices like notebooks, smartphones, netbooks and tablets, according to AMI research on the adoption of cloud services by SMBs in a dozen countries.
SMBs' cloud adoption patterns vary greatly in terms of types of applications and services reflecting their varying levels of comfort with the new paradigm.
Broadly, AMI's analysis shows demand shifts in three areas. While the overall SMB server shipments are still growing, these are driven significantly by first-time server buyers, who need it for improving their productivity as well as replacements and upgrades by SMBs who had delayed their purchases due to the economic environment over the last couple of years. However, with the growth of hosted cloud services, SMBs no longer need on-premise servers for many applications. This combined with consolidation and the growing use of virtualization, especially among the larger MBs, is reducing the growth rate of server shipments.
Secondly, the demand for storage products will also follow the server demand. In addition, the increasing use of the cloud for backup and storage is reducing the need for on-premise storage hardware and software.
While part of the SMB server and storage demand will shift toward the cloud service providers, their multi-tenancy models would prevent them from fully offsetting the decline in total SMB server shipments. Thus, the SMB server market will be pulled in two different directions: toward smaller, less powerful and less expensive servers driven by first-time server buyers and toward more powerful servers by the larger SMBs as they consolidate their servers and use virtualization on a broader scale.
The third shift taking place relates to mobile devices. With applications hosted in the cloud, some SMB employees no longer need the full functionality of the bulky notebook PCs as they can meet their needs using lighter devices like netbooks, smartphones and tablets. These lighter mobile devices have shown significant increase in penetration and ownership among SMBs. Notebook shipments, which have been growing a brisk pace for the last few years as businesses replaced their desktops with notebooks, are likely to see lower growth rates, followed by a long-term decline in the coming years.
Comment from Anil Miglani, SVP of IT Infrastructure and Managed Services Research at AMI-Partners: These changes in demand for hardware will also be accompanied by similar changes in demand for other on-premise products (e.g. security, networking, software, etc.) over the next several years. Going forward, vendors and channel partners need to understand these shifts in demand patterns and start reflecting them in their own future strategic initiatives. While a majority of SMBs are using cloud services in conjunction with their existing applications and services, a small but growing number are using them to replace their on-premise infrastructure. This is especially true for cloud services like CRM, hosted email, hosted SharePoint and others. This has started to affect demand for ICT infrastructure required to run these applications. The full impact of this shift will be seen much more visibly over the next couple of years, once the replacements/upgrades are completed and also more SMBs start moving their on-premise applications to the cloud.
Contact: Click here.
SMBs' cloud adoption patterns vary greatly in terms of types of applications and services reflecting their varying levels of comfort with the new paradigm.
Broadly, AMI's analysis shows demand shifts in three areas. While the overall SMB server shipments are still growing, these are driven significantly by first-time server buyers, who need it for improving their productivity as well as replacements and upgrades by SMBs who had delayed their purchases due to the economic environment over the last couple of years. However, with the growth of hosted cloud services, SMBs no longer need on-premise servers for many applications. This combined with consolidation and the growing use of virtualization, especially among the larger MBs, is reducing the growth rate of server shipments.
Secondly, the demand for storage products will also follow the server demand. In addition, the increasing use of the cloud for backup and storage is reducing the need for on-premise storage hardware and software.
While part of the SMB server and storage demand will shift toward the cloud service providers, their multi-tenancy models would prevent them from fully offsetting the decline in total SMB server shipments. Thus, the SMB server market will be pulled in two different directions: toward smaller, less powerful and less expensive servers driven by first-time server buyers and toward more powerful servers by the larger SMBs as they consolidate their servers and use virtualization on a broader scale.
The third shift taking place relates to mobile devices. With applications hosted in the cloud, some SMB employees no longer need the full functionality of the bulky notebook PCs as they can meet their needs using lighter devices like netbooks, smartphones and tablets. These lighter mobile devices have shown significant increase in penetration and ownership among SMBs. Notebook shipments, which have been growing a brisk pace for the last few years as businesses replaced their desktops with notebooks, are likely to see lower growth rates, followed by a long-term decline in the coming years.
Comment from Anil Miglani, SVP of IT Infrastructure and Managed Services Research at AMI-Partners: These changes in demand for hardware will also be accompanied by similar changes in demand for other on-premise products (e.g. security, networking, software, etc.) over the next several years. Going forward, vendors and channel partners need to understand these shifts in demand patterns and start reflecting them in their own future strategic initiatives. While a majority of SMBs are using cloud services in conjunction with their existing applications and services, a small but growing number are using them to replace their on-premise infrastructure. This is especially true for cloud services like CRM, hosted email, hosted SharePoint and others. This has started to affect demand for ICT infrastructure required to run these applications. The full impact of this shift will be seen much more visibly over the next couple of years, once the replacements/upgrades are completed and also more SMBs start moving their on-premise applications to the cloud.
Contact: Click here.
Friday, September 24, 2010
New Finding: Telecom Service Providers Are Key SMB Cloud Players
As many traditional small and medium business (SMB) channel partners make the transition to the Cloud services model, telecommunication service providers (telecoms) are making a strong bid for the SMB Cloud share, beyond their traditional voice and data service offerings, an upcoming study says.
Facing the continuing prospect of declining average revenue per seat (ARPU) and increasing churn, telecoms see the SMB Cloud as an opportunity for sustained revenue growth and customer loyalty. At the same time, many SMBs are open to expanding their relationships with telecoms beyond traditional voice and data services. Thirty-eight percent of U.S. SMBs say they are willing to purchase IT products & services (including hardware and software) from telecommunications service providers.
A key driver behind SMB interest in purchasing IT products & services from telecoms is the rapid growth of mobile applications.
Leading players such as AT&T, Verizon and Qwest are increasing their Cloud service portfolio from hosted VoIP, hosted email, and conferencing services, to high-end business applications and managed services. Most SMBs already have an account with a communication service provider for communication services; adding cloud applications through the existing account significantly lowers the hurdle for SMBs to adopt new services than looking for a new service provider. Communication service providers may be the comprehensive ICT partners in the coming age of Cloud computing.
Comment from Yuki Uehara, Senior Cloud Analyst with AMI: SMBs with multiple branches and greater smartphone penetration are more likely to expand their relationship with telecoms. This growing interest suggests significant opportunities for communication service providers to be one-stop ICT partners, and to reshape the ecosystem of ICT products and services in the global SMB space. This poses a significant challenge to traditional SMB channel partners, as telecoms bring greater scale, resources and price flexibility. SMBs are attracted to telecoms' abilities to offer superior customer service, flexible billing, and "one neck to choke" for all IT and communications issues. This 'one-stop-shopping' model, coupled with attractive bundling, pricing and services options, will put pressure on traditional resellers to evolve their business models.
AMI's 2010 Worldwide SMB Cloud Service study: Examines the SMB Cloud opportunity in 30+ countries, including SMB preferences for Cloud-based application bundle, price sensitivity and purchase channel preferences. This study also provides comprehensive coverage of SMB adoption of Cloud-based applications, managed services, and supporting infrastructure, including platforms and devices. These studies will provide a roadmap for successful Cloud go-to-market strategies and tactics.
Contact: Click here.
Facing the continuing prospect of declining average revenue per seat (ARPU) and increasing churn, telecoms see the SMB Cloud as an opportunity for sustained revenue growth and customer loyalty. At the same time, many SMBs are open to expanding their relationships with telecoms beyond traditional voice and data services. Thirty-eight percent of U.S. SMBs say they are willing to purchase IT products & services (including hardware and software) from telecommunications service providers.
A key driver behind SMB interest in purchasing IT products & services from telecoms is the rapid growth of mobile applications.
Leading players such as AT&T, Verizon and Qwest are increasing their Cloud service portfolio from hosted VoIP, hosted email, and conferencing services, to high-end business applications and managed services. Most SMBs already have an account with a communication service provider for communication services; adding cloud applications through the existing account significantly lowers the hurdle for SMBs to adopt new services than looking for a new service provider. Communication service providers may be the comprehensive ICT partners in the coming age of Cloud computing.
Comment from Yuki Uehara, Senior Cloud Analyst with AMI: SMBs with multiple branches and greater smartphone penetration are more likely to expand their relationship with telecoms. This growing interest suggests significant opportunities for communication service providers to be one-stop ICT partners, and to reshape the ecosystem of ICT products and services in the global SMB space. This poses a significant challenge to traditional SMB channel partners, as telecoms bring greater scale, resources and price flexibility. SMBs are attracted to telecoms' abilities to offer superior customer service, flexible billing, and "one neck to choke" for all IT and communications issues. This 'one-stop-shopping' model, coupled with attractive bundling, pricing and services options, will put pressure on traditional resellers to evolve their business models.
AMI's 2010 Worldwide SMB Cloud Service study: Examines the SMB Cloud opportunity in 30+ countries, including SMB preferences for Cloud-based application bundle, price sensitivity and purchase channel preferences. This study also provides comprehensive coverage of SMB adoption of Cloud-based applications, managed services, and supporting infrastructure, including platforms and devices. These studies will provide a roadmap for successful Cloud go-to-market strategies and tactics.
Contact: Click here.
Thursday, September 23, 2010
SMBs Plan To Up IT Spending By 4% By End Of 2010
Planned IT spending by small and medium businesses (SMBs) is on the rise for the second half of the year, according to a new Spiceworks survey. Overall IT budgets are up an additional four percent from the first half of 2010.
Survey result highlights:
-- Budgets for the second half of 2010 increased 4 percent over figures reported in the first half of the year. This brings the average annual IT budget for small and medium businesses to $121,770, which is up from the $117,200 reported for the first half of 2010.
-- Virtualization investments continue to grow within the small and medium business sector with 68 percent of IT professionals planning to utilize some form of virtualization by the end of 2010. This is up from the 63 percent reported for the first half of 2010. Currently, 52 percent of SMB IT professionals utilize virtualization in their networks, which is up from the 44 percent who did so at the beginning of 2010.
-- In line with the first half of 2010, the majority of small and medium business IT professionals (65 percent) plan to keep their IT staff the same size between now and year-end. While 20 percent plan to add full-time IT staff before the end of 2010, companies with fewer than 20 employees are most confident in their plans with nearly one in four (23 percent) planning to add new staff. This is nearly double the 12 percent of companies with 20-99 employees and the 18 percent of companies with 100 or more employees that plan to do the same.
-- 42 percent of IT budgets for the remainder of the year are allocated to hardware purchases, which is down from the 47 percent reported for the first half of 2010. The majority of purchases are designated for replacing aging hardware systems.
-- 35 percent of IT budgets for the second half of 2010 are allocated to software purchases. Among SMB IT professionals, 34 percent plan to tackle server operating system upgrades before year-end. The most popular planned software purchase is antivirus/anti-spam software with 67 percent of respondents planning to buy new, upgrade or renew antivirus/anti-spam software.
-- Overall spending on hosted IT services is down for the second half of 2010. 48 percent of IT professionals plan to purchase new, upgrade or renew at least one IT service, which is down from the 56 percent reported for first half of 2010. However, hosted email purchase plans rose to 38 percent from the 23 percent reported for the first half of 2010. Nearly one in three of those planning hosted email purchases in the second half of 2010 will buy new services rather than upgrade or renew existing services.
Comment from Jay Hallberg, co-founder and vice president of marketing for Spiceworks: While the state of the economy is still a concern among small and mid-sized companies, they continue to increase their technology spending plans. Bright spots are clearly seen in strategic areas and in those that help businesses do more with existing resources. We'll continue to watch how these plans unfold over the next six months.
About the survey: Findings were uncovered in the second semi-annual "State of SMB IT" technology survey for 2010, which investigates current technology purchasing, usage and staffing trends among SMBs worldwide. The study of 3,011 IT professionals was conducted in July and August 2010 by the Spiceworks Voice of IT Market Research Program. The State of SMB IT survey for the second half of 2010 included 3,011 respondents from 117 countries around the world. Those surveyed work in organizations with fewer than 1,000 employees and were among the more than 1 million SMB IT professionals who use the free Spiceworks IT management software to manage their computer networks.
Contact: Click here.
Survey result highlights:
-- Budgets for the second half of 2010 increased 4 percent over figures reported in the first half of the year. This brings the average annual IT budget for small and medium businesses to $121,770, which is up from the $117,200 reported for the first half of 2010.
-- Virtualization investments continue to grow within the small and medium business sector with 68 percent of IT professionals planning to utilize some form of virtualization by the end of 2010. This is up from the 63 percent reported for the first half of 2010. Currently, 52 percent of SMB IT professionals utilize virtualization in their networks, which is up from the 44 percent who did so at the beginning of 2010.
-- In line with the first half of 2010, the majority of small and medium business IT professionals (65 percent) plan to keep their IT staff the same size between now and year-end. While 20 percent plan to add full-time IT staff before the end of 2010, companies with fewer than 20 employees are most confident in their plans with nearly one in four (23 percent) planning to add new staff. This is nearly double the 12 percent of companies with 20-99 employees and the 18 percent of companies with 100 or more employees that plan to do the same.
-- 42 percent of IT budgets for the remainder of the year are allocated to hardware purchases, which is down from the 47 percent reported for the first half of 2010. The majority of purchases are designated for replacing aging hardware systems.
-- 35 percent of IT budgets for the second half of 2010 are allocated to software purchases. Among SMB IT professionals, 34 percent plan to tackle server operating system upgrades before year-end. The most popular planned software purchase is antivirus/anti-spam software with 67 percent of respondents planning to buy new, upgrade or renew antivirus/anti-spam software.
-- Overall spending on hosted IT services is down for the second half of 2010. 48 percent of IT professionals plan to purchase new, upgrade or renew at least one IT service, which is down from the 56 percent reported for first half of 2010. However, hosted email purchase plans rose to 38 percent from the 23 percent reported for the first half of 2010. Nearly one in three of those planning hosted email purchases in the second half of 2010 will buy new services rather than upgrade or renew existing services.
Comment from Jay Hallberg, co-founder and vice president of marketing for Spiceworks: While the state of the economy is still a concern among small and mid-sized companies, they continue to increase their technology spending plans. Bright spots are clearly seen in strategic areas and in those that help businesses do more with existing resources. We'll continue to watch how these plans unfold over the next six months.
About the survey: Findings were uncovered in the second semi-annual "State of SMB IT" technology survey for 2010, which investigates current technology purchasing, usage and staffing trends among SMBs worldwide. The study of 3,011 IT professionals was conducted in July and August 2010 by the Spiceworks Voice of IT Market Research Program. The State of SMB IT survey for the second half of 2010 included 3,011 respondents from 117 countries around the world. Those surveyed work in organizations with fewer than 1,000 employees and were among the more than 1 million SMB IT professionals who use the free Spiceworks IT management software to manage their computer networks.
Contact: Click here.
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