New Survey Finds Majority of Small and Medium Businesses Plan to Purchase New Hardware and Software within the Next Six Months
68 Percent to Buy New Laptops, Desktops and Servers; 51 Percent Plan New Software Purchases; and 33 Percent to Invest in IT Services
AUSTIN, Texas (August 31, 2009) –
Small and medium businesses are holding on to their servers and laptops longer these days, according to a new survey by Spiceworks(TM), Inc. But most are also planning to make significant investments in new hardware and software over the next six months.
These findings were uncovered in a Q3 2009 survey of over 1,000 IT professionals, which was designed to investigate current technology purchasing, usage and staffing trends among small and medium businesses (SMBs) worldwide. The survey was fielded in July and August by the Spiceworks Voice of IT® market research program, consisting of SMB IT professionals that are among the 750,000 who use the free Spiceworks IT Desktop to manage their computer networks. Survey result highlights include:
* Small and medium businesses are squeezing an extra year out of their hardware. The average planned lifespan of hardware, which includes desktops, laptops and servers, increased 26 percent from 40 months to 50 months.
* Despite using hardware for a longer period of time, 68 percent of SMBs plan to add new hardware to their networks within the next six months. Among hardware purchasing priorities, 56 percent plan to buy desktops, 55 percent plan to purchases laptops, 45 percent plan new server purchases, 31 percent plan to add printers, and 27 percent plan to add new network devices. Only 13 percent have their eyes on netbooks.
o The average new hardware order is expected to include 13 desktops, 10 laptops and 2 servers
o Hardware remains the biggest IT budget item with SMBs expecting to spend 37 percent of their annual budgets refreshing and expanding physical infrastructure
* 51 percent are planning new software purchases. Security and anti-spam solutions top the list with 32 percent of SMBs planning such purchases within the next six months. Of these, just over 1 in 3 (35 percent) plan to buy cloud-based security and anti-spam offerings.
* 44 percent are using virtualization solutions. Within small and medium business networks, 21 percent of their total server computing capacity is virtualized. Over the next six months, 30 percent of SMBs plan to deploy or expand virtualization in their networks.
* 25 percent are planning backup and recovery purchases within the next six months. Of these, 75 percent plan to store data on premise and 25 percent plan to utilize cloud-based storage solutions. 42 percent of data is slated to be stored on network-attached storage (NAS) or storage area network (SAN) devices. 38 percent will be stored in direct-attached and local storage, 7 percent is planned to be hosted offsite, and 13 percent on tape and other media.
* 57 percent currently use one or more “cloud computing” services. The three most popular cloud computing services in use or on the purchase list include anti-spam (43 percent), hosted email (25 percent), and online backup (20 percent).
* Small and medium business IT budgets took a beating in 2009. 39 percent cut 2009 budgets from 2008 levels with the average cut being 22 percent. 31 percent kept budgets the same, and 30 percent actually grew their budgets this year by 27 percent. Most did feel some impact from the economy this year with 60 percent having delayed or canceled at least one project so far in 2009.
* IT hiring among small and medium businesses is poised to grow. While many technology departments are holding staff sizes steady, 22 percent plan to hire additional full-time or part-time staff, while only 3 percent plan to further reduce staff over the next six months.
“It’s good to see small and medium businesses showing positive signs of growth in technology spending,” says Jay Hallberg, co-founder and vice president of Marketing for Spiceworks. “Most are clearly ready to buy and it will be interesting to watch how these plans play out among different geographies, industries and company sizes. We will track these and other technology trends of interest in future studies.”
The majority of the 1,130 survey respondents were IT professionals representing technology teams of one to five people that support companies with fewer than 500 employees and with annual technology budgets of $108,000. The Spiceworks Voice of IT® market research program publishes data collected from a panel of small and medium business technology professionals that are among the 750,000 users of the free Spiceworks IT Desktop. Survey panelists opt-in to answer questions on technology trends important to small and medium businesses. For more information on this survey and for a complete list of survey results, visit http://www.spiceworks.com/voice-of-it. To receive updates on future research, follow Spiceworks Voice of IT® on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/VoiceOfIT or @VoiceOfIT, and sign up for Spiceworks Voice of IT® research e-mails at marketresearch@spiceworks.com.
About the Spiceworks IT Desktop
The Spiceworks IT Desktop is a free IT management application designed for small and medium organizations with up to 500 devices. It is the first business application to embed crowdsourcing, social networking and community collaboration features directly into an IT professional’s daily workflow. More than 750,000 IT professionals and 70,000 managed service providers (MSPs) in 196 countries worldwide rely on Spiceworks to support 25 million employees and manage 37 million technology devices.
To follow Spiceworks on Twitter go to http://twitter.com/spiceworks. To connect with Spiceworks on Facebook visit http://www.facebook.com/pages/Spiceworks/15382903707.
About Spiceworks
Founded by network and systems management software pioneers, Spiceworks develops the first free social IT management application that incorporates crowdsourcing to help over 750,000 small and medium businesses and 70,000 managed service providers (MSPs) simplify everything IT. Spiceworks makes it easy for IT pros to manage their networks, collaborate to solve technology problems, and find the best practices, products and services they need day-to-day. Through its Voice of IT® market research program, the company also publishes data on important technology usage, staffing and purchasing trends by small and medium businesses worldwide. Spiceworks is a privately held company headquartered in Austin, Texas with funding from Austin Ventures and Shasta Ventures. For more information visit www.spiceworks.com.
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Spiceworks and Voice of IT are trademarks of Spiceworks, Inc. All other names may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.
Media Contact:
Karl Scholz
For Spiceworks
karl.scholz@virtualprdirector.com
(512) 493-0909
Source: Spiceworks