Most small businesses employing fewer than 100 employees plan to significantly increase their IT spending this year, according to an informal survey conducted by Small Biz Pipeline. Most of that increase will come from the smallest businesses, those with 10 or fewer employees.
The Small Biz Pipeline survey was completed by 165 companies. Of the 119 companies that knew whether or not they would alter their IT budgets this year, 66% said they would increase it.
While the sample size is not large enough to be considered scientific, its implications are nonetheless encouraging for the portion of the economy. The Small Business Administration says that a full 90% of the 60 million businesses in the U.S. have fewer than 20 employees, while 50% of American workers are employed in companies with fewer than 100 employees.
"Things are definitely picking up," said Mark Stephens, principal of the Stephens Group, a six-person management consultancy in Charlotte, N.C. "Not everyone's ready to pull the trigger, but at least they're making plans." Stephens himself plans to buy one replacement desktop PC this year.
Among survey respondents planning to purchase notebooks and laptops, 45% said they would buy systems from Dell. More than 50% said in a separately that reliability was a key factor in selecting a vendor.
Making the jump from outdated legacy technology to a more modern digital infrastructure will allow businesses to innovate at the speed and scale needed in today’s marketplace.
The business world is speeding up. The longer IT leaders wait to get their needs met, the more at risk their businesses and their jobs will be.
By arming SD-WAN networks with end-to-end intelligence, analytics-driven predictions, and predictive automation solutions, IT teams can simplify infrastructure management and assure higher levels of quality experiences for users.
