In a recent release of the 1st half of 2013 State of SMB IT Report conducted by Spiceworks Voice of IT market insights program some strong trends are shown.
Continued growth in the adoption of cloud IT services with a trend pointing to a 6 percentage point increase over the balance of 2013, representing two thirds of the grouping, it shows that the cloud is fully entrenched. Strong budget allocation in SMBs with under 20 employees leads the trend according to the report.
Tablets are shown to be clearly on the minds with 59% of respondents showing they have tablets on their networks up 6 percentage points since the fall 2012 survey and projected to be reaching 70% in the next six months. The North American region appears to be leading the adoption although they are strong throughout the balance of the world as well.
In further proof of the strength of tablets Computer Dealer News recently reported on a IDC study predicting that tablet shipments will increase by over 58% this year reaching a total of 229.3 million and exceeding the number of laptops being purchased. A further trend noted is the move to smaller screen sizes led by the iPad Mini.
Virtualization also shows its strength in the Spiceworks update. While this is a trend which has been led by the larger SMBs in the study, it is being felt across the market. With over 72% of respondents using virtualization the smaller companies (20 employees or less) only report its use 50% of the time. Server virtualization is predicted to continue and the peak of this trend is still to come.
There is a lot more to be learned as reported by Spiceworks, the leading social business platform for IT in State of SMB IT IH 2013, May 29. If you would like to read all of the details and review all the charts you can access the complete report here.
The general tone of the results is that SMB IT activity is healthy and will expand in the balance of 2013. Spending is expected to grow as SMBs invest in their systems.
These trends reflect the need for organizations to leverage their IT infrastructure to stay competitive and match or get ahead of their competitors from around the world. Since the data is worldwide and grouped on a North American basis it is difficult to pull specific trends for our local area in Southern Ontario but it is reasonable to believe that on a broad basis the data reflects our market place as well.
What are your investment plans for the balance of 2013? Do you see similar impacts on your operations?
Lee K
Photo credit: Images from Spiceworks, the leading social business platform for IT in State of SMB IT IH 2013, May 29
