SMBs said key benefits of adopting cloud applications include a low total cost of ownership and fast deployment time.
Results from a survey
conducted by Dell Cloud Business Applications and Techaisle show adoption of
cloud business applications is on the rise among small and midsize businesses.
As SMBs assess which cloud applications make the most sense for their
businesses, the survey indicated deployment services and application
integration are critical for success. The survey, which included more than 450
U.S.-based companies with employee bases ranging from 50 to 999, found that up
to 69 percent of SMBs prefer to purchase cloud applications from a single,
trusted vendor.
Cloud application adoption
will continue to rise in 2012, as SMBs that currently use cloud applications
plan to add an average of three new cloud business applications in 2012. The
survey also suggests CRM is a gateway to broader adoption of cloud
applications: CRM has the highest penetration of any cloud application at up to
55 percent, an increase of up to 34 percent from 2010.
Up to 50 percent of
respondents noted significant challenges in keeping track of different service
level agreements (SLAs), while up to 48 percent complained that explaining
their business to each vendor was tedious and time-consuming. SMBs have high
integration process expectations with up to 74 percent of respondents using
in-house IT staff to integrate new cloud applications with on-premise
technology and up to 61percent are writing software code to integrate
applications. Up to 63 percent of respondents would like the option to modify
the integration based on business process changes.
The survey also showed that
efficiency and productivity continue to be top benefits of applications
integration. On average, SMBs state they have experienced up to 38 percent
improvement in operational efficiency due to reduced manual processes and up to
39 percent improvement in employee productivity due to automation of tasks and
information.
Overall, SMBs state that the
key benefits of adopting cloud applications include a low total cost of
ownership (TCO), fast deployment time, simplified access from a browser, single
sign-on, and automated feature and functionality upgrades. Dell Cloud
Business Applications (DCBA) can fulfill many of the needs identified in the
survey, delivering a family of trusted, integrated cloud applications and
services that enable new business processes and deliver rapid time to value.
Cloud adoption does not end
with signing up for an application, said Anurag Agrawal, CEO of Techaisle. As
SMBs dive deeper into their options for utilizing multiple cloud business
applications, they are quickly realizing the need to partner with a trusted
cloud solutions vendor and develop a comprehensive, scalable plan for
implementation. The results of our latest cloud-related survey show that
research, deployment and integration are key factors for success when making
the migration to the cloud, and working with one, trusted IT vendor who will
lead a company through its entire migration is proving to be a powerful option
for small and medium businesses.
The primary research study
was conducted with 400 SMBs in the U.S. that have at least one cloud-based
business application. The survey was conducted online in December 2011 and was
based on a structured questionnaire with a number of open-ended questions. The
sample included both IT Decision Makers (ITDM) and Business Decision Makers
(BDMs) who have responsibility for selecting and implementing business
applications.
Nathan Eddy is Associate Editor, Midmarket, at eWEEK.com. Before joining eWEEK.com, Nate was a writer with ChannelWeb and he served as an editor at FierceMarkets. He is a graduate of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.
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