“You don’t know what you don’t know” might be the expression most
appropriate for small and midsize businesses when it comes to the
benefits of technology and their business, according to an independent
survey of more than 500 SMB decision makers released at National Small
Business Week. The study, commissioned by Verio, a provider of online
business solutions to SMBs worldwide, showed that more than two-thirds
of respondents are uncertain if they will purchase a cloud solution in
the near future.
However, despite this lack of knowledge, respondents seek the
benefits of a cloud offering, with 21 percent citing the ability to
share resources and 20 percent citing on-demand resources as important,
showcasing a need for education on cloud benefits specific to small
businesses. With the proper knowledge and education on cloud
technology, 20 percent of decision makers stated they were “likely” or
“very likely” to implement a cloud computing solution in the next 12
months while almost 10 percent were “likely” or “very likely” to
implement in the next three months.
“This data clearly demonstrates that there continues to be a need
for educating SMBs on the benefits of cloud and more importantly,
correlating those benefits to their current IT requirements,” said
Mitch Merrifield, senior director of managed computing solutions for
Verio. “SMBs want to drive efficiencies, and cloud technologies are
some of the most innovative solutions to assist them in doing that.”
The survey also found that 19 percent of SMB decision makers are
looking to cut technology costs, an improvement from 30 percent from
last year, so the SMB appetite to purchase IT solutions continues to
grow. Other findings include a sustained focus on building out and
maintaining IT infrastructure as well.
“There are several considerations, including use cases, benefits,
applications and purchasing, when SMBs are deciding how to best
implement IT solutions such as cloud,” said Merrifield. “We believe as
their understanding of these key factors and benefits evolve, this will
significantly contribute to the adoption of cloud technologies in 2011
and beyond.”
A recent report found SMBs are beginning to move toward cloud-based
backup (as opposed to traditional technologies) to protect their
company data. According to a Forrester Research survey whose goal was
to discover the drivers for the move to cloud-based recovery tech
versus traditional on-premises solutions, five percent of survey
respondents indicated they use cloud-based backup today and 38 percent
plan to employ cloud backup within two years, while 68 percent of
respondents said they plan to move toward cloud-based backup to reduce
costs.
Nearly half (48 percent) said they are moving to cloud-backup
because they are more comfortable with the security of their data in
these new environments. Speed of implementation/deployment was also
cited (32 percent) as the reason for moving to the cloud.
Midmarket News & Reviews 
