Good article on bMighty on SMB software plans and usage. The article summarizes several Forrester Research reports and adds commentary from bMighty editor-in-chief Fredric Paul.
The article reports that application integration and reducing costs are currently the top software goals of SMBs, followed by using information technology to increase innovation.
Topping the list of software products of most interest to SMBs was unified communications. This was followed by open source software and mobile development tools.
And despite the hype and others reporting questionably high usage of Web 2.0 tools like blogs, wikis and other social media, Forrester has what I think is a much more realistic view - which is way less than half of small and mid-sized businesses are current users of these types of tools.
As Fredric Paul points out, "small and midsize companies use and think about software differently than larger companies"
We see that with many of our clients. Their focus is on business outcomes, not IT tactics/goals. They sense the potential for using software to improve their business ... but are often unsure where to start.
Of course, the IT industry doesn't help matters with its continual hype and frequent use of technical jargon. SMB owners are busy people who don't have the time or inclination to wade through all that.
Still, over the next year or two I think we're going to see a strong uptake of SaaS solutions by small business owners, as they come to appreciate (1) not having to worry about IT/hardware issues (2) the cashflow benefits of monthly subscriptions vs hefty upfront licenses (3) simpler, more user-friendly software.
Posted by: Xavier Russo | August 13, 2009 at 11:19 PM
custom business softwares have many advantages over standard business software. Many business softwares use operational research methods and algorithms for optimum utilization of resources, maximizing profits and minimizing costs.
Posted by: wto-center.org | July 14, 2009 at 06:18 PM
I think the cost factor ( both the license cost and the cost of managing the software) are very important to any SMB.
Even in India I have seen that most companies are mostly looking for simple tools for content collaboration, CRM, etc.
We recently launched a web application called Uhuroo which provides a smart & secure way to share and collaborate on content (document,images,or any other kind of files) with distributed teams, partners, customers and other collaborators.
The response that we have got from Indian SMB firms has been very encouraging.
Posted by: Kaushal Sarda | June 29, 2009 at 02:43 AM