Top 10 IT trends in SMB

The biggest trend in IT to hit the SMB market will be emerging countries, and not specifically those most talked about such as Brazil, Russia, India and China.

According to AMI-Partners, a New York-based research firm, IT vendors will focus on the next 10 emerging markets such as Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Philippines, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Argentina, and Chile.

AMI forecasts the worldwide IT spending by SMBs to grow by 10 per cent in 2007, mainly centred in the big four emerging markets also known as the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China), which will have high double digit growth.

SMB spending In North America and Japan will surpass large business IT spending In 2007.

But these countries are showing rates of growth more than 20 per cent.

The follow are the list of 10 top IT trends, plus a bonus prediction.

1. Collectively, these 10 emerging markets are exhibiting GDP growth rates of over seven per cent and showing SMB IT spending growth rates exceeding 20 per cent in 2007.

Vietnam and Chile have seen surges in foreign direct investment (FDI), both being increasingly recognized for their manufacturing potential. High adult literacy rates and increasing governmental support will drive the SMB sector. SMB IT spending in Indonesia will equal that of Sweden and surpass it in 2008.

2007 will also see the fall of the majority share of IT spend by large businesses in Japan and North America. For the first time, SMB IT spending is poised to surpass spending by large businesses in the two countries as noted above. Such a trend has already occurred in other regions – Asia Pacific, Europe and Lat Am.

2. Storage and security convergence will help SMBs move up the adoption curve.

Storage and security solutions will continue to converge, leading to market consolidation.

SMBs will be more inclined to adopt dual-purpose solutions  as they check their budgets against investment priorities. AMI forecasts storage and security spend will grow by 19 per cent in 2007.

3. Software-as-a-Service (SaaS).

SaaS was previously all about selling companies on the scale and skill advantages that SaaS provides, helping businesses take advantage of sophisticated solutions while minimizing IT investments, footprints and risks. The next for SaaS vendors will be to increase the focus on how their solutions help customers streamline business processes for market advantage.

4. Managed services for SMBs.

SMBs in mature technology markets are already highly penetrated in terms of PC, Internet, server, security, telecom and mobility solutions.

Increasingly, they also struggle with the same IT complexities that larger enterprises face, such as mounting regulatory requirements, more remote and mobile employees, and multiple locations.

AMI’s global primary research results indicate that SMBs are increasingly likely to offload cumbersome IT chores to outside experts, so they can focus on their core business. AMI predicts vendors will offer SMBs more inclusive IT-based managed services packages over the next year. Though initially aimed at testing the waters among early adopter and mid-market businesses, these services will go beyond the piecemeal approach, building towards more comprehensive portfolios.

5. Outsourcing

AMI forecasts that the traditional IT services market will continue to see double digit growth in 2007 among global SMBs as an increasing number of  businesses spend on different types of services. The IT outsourcing market will get a boost as a direct fallout. IT service vendors in India, China, Philippines, and Russia will continue to reap benefits as mid-market IT outsourcing gains momentum.

6. SMBs will mobilize.

City governments are picking up the tab to provide the public with free or low-cost wireless Internet access. The number of municipally funded Wi-Fi/WiMax projects is soaring, with cities large and small participating.

This year will see fixed mobile convergence (FMC) between fixed IP infrastructure/applications and mobile (cellular) infrastructure/applications with increased focus on ubiquitous mobility. AMI predicts that global SMB notebook shipments will grow by 20 per cent in 2007 over 2006, outpacing desktop PC growth by five times.

7. SMB caution over Vista.

Despite all the hype about pent-up demand for Vista, 17 per cent of mid-market businesses, and less than seven per cent of small businesses in the U.S. plan to adopt Vista in the next 12 months, according to AMI’s U.S. small and medium business survey.

That translates into 447,000 US PC SMBs who have expressed an interest in Vista adoption during 2007. Most SMBs tend to take a wait-and-see attitude when it comes to deploying something new, and in this case, will use extra caution due to concerns generated by the media and industry pundits regarding potential incompatibilities and security loopholes, and uncertainty about the benefits of migrating from their current OS to Vista.

8. Unified communications. 

AMI predicts that VoIP will begin a long transition from a market-driven attraction of all-in-one VoIP appliances that supports voice/unified messaging/security/mobility with provisions for remote management and desktop/server collaboration application integration.

While the transition will not be complete in 2007, the die has been cast by Office 2007 and MS Exchange, which embed unified communications as a feature. Adoption of  broadband VoIP applications such as Skype, Yahoo and Vonage will grow rapidly, especially among small SBs (1-4 employees); hosted VoIP  adoption will increase among the 5-20 employee segment as these solutions become more reliable, secure and scalable.

9. The Rise of the Value-Added Provider (VAP).

The IT channel continues to be in a state of flux, as value-added resellers (VARs) and regional systems integrators (SIs) struggle to adapt to the changing market demands and the evolving business models of IT vendors. While SMBs continue to spend a significant portion of their IT budgets with local and regional VARs, the nature and scope of what they purchase through these providers is changing.

With hardware becoming a commodity purchase, and as manufacturers improve direct service and support capabilities, the percentage of direct hardware purchases through retail will continue to rise.

10. The Battle for the Web-based operating system

Salesforce.com (Apex and AppExchange) and Amazon (Amazon Web Services) have led the charge to build web-based operating systems and ecosystems, providing developers and customers with access to their technology platforms, infrastructure, tools and knowledge base. As they do so, they are transforming the Internet from an ecosystem to a new computing platform.

The Web-based operating system embodies the same core components as traditional operating systems, such as processing power, storage and memory. But unlike traditional operating systems, the Web-based operating system is comprised of a huge distributed computer network that many users can access virtually.

#Bonus Prediction: The IT Generation Gap Materializes, Dramatically Changing the Way IT Decisions Are Made

As baby boomers retire and are replaced by younger Gen X workers and entrepreneurs, a significant IT generation gap will emerge and grow, especially in mature technology countries.

Younger decision makers, reared on the Internet, video games, MySpace and iPods, will demand business applications that are as easy to use and as flexible as the consumer applications they’ve become accustomed to. This segment will expect a more “consumerized” business application shopping experience, in which it is easy to access, evaluate and purchase solutions.

Younger decision-makers will also demand solutions with minimal training requirements, smaller IT footprints, automatic upgrades and fast ROI. In addition, they will expect thei

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Jim Love, Chief Content Officer, IT World Canada

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