• The Four Hundred
  • Subscribe
  • Media Kit
  • Contributors
  • About Us
  • Contact
Menu
  • The Four Hundred
  • Subscribe
  • Media Kit
  • Contributors
  • About Us
  • Contact
  • The Good Word on U.S. SMB IT Spending

    June 20, 2011 Jenny Thomas

    When more and more people are saying the same thing, it’s gotta be true. Right? Participants in the small and medium-sized business (SMB) market–including the companies themselves and the vendors that supply thing to them–are certainly hoping so as more good news comes from a recent study by IDC.

    According to the IDC, IT spending growth has returned more rapidly than expected since the recession officially ended in 2009. IDC’s recent forecast found the nearly 8 million SMBs in the United States will spend more than $125 billion on advanced technology in 2011, an increase from approximately $120 billion in 2010.

    Past IDC studies have shown the SMB segment traditionally has higher IT spending growth, but that pattern was broken in the thick of the recent recession as smaller firms were more adversely affected by the economic downturn. The spending increase in 2010, and the predicted one for 2011, represent a substantial rebound from 2009, when SMB IT spending declined by 4.2 percent.

    In its report, U.S. Small and Medium-Sized Business 2011-2015 Forecast: The Return to Spending Growth Drives Investment in Key Infrastructure Categories, IDC presents predictions for total spending for 2011 to 2015, with a baseline year of 2010. SMBs are defined as small businesses (less than 100 employees), lower midsize companies (100 to 499 employees), and upper midsize companies (500 to 999 employees). The study forecasts the total number of small and midsize businesses, with ownership of key technology categories including notebook PCs, local area networks (LANs), and server-based LANs.

    “SMBs account for an increasing share of overall corporate IT spending in the U.S.,” said Justin Jaffe, senior research analyst for small/medium-sized business and home office research at IDC. “Vendors that understand how changing economic conditions and emerging technologies are affecting IT acquisition for different company size segments will have a considerable advantage in developing and marketing technology products and services for SMBs.”

    While access to credit is still limited and firms remain reluctant to add new employees, the IDC report found emerging technologies are disrupting established patterns of IT acquisition. For instance, the study revealed that notebook PCs will continue to represent a larger share of total PC shipments into the SMB market in the United States than desktops. In 2015, the number of SMBs in the U.S. with notebooks will approach 4.7 million.

    IDC also foresees the number of SMBs with local area networks will exceed 4.5 million in 2015, as even smaller businesses look to connect their users’ PCs. The declining price of entry-level hardware will drive server acquisition in small firms as virtualization solutions motivate midsize firms to upgrade and consolidate their environments.

    Reports of an economic rebound for the SMB segment have been consistent since the beginning of 2011. IT Jungle has been following chatter, and recently covered two IBM surveys of the midmarket that also offered good news for this important business sector. The first was IBM’s 2011midmarket study, which found that 53 percent of midsize businesses plan to increase their IT budgets over the next 12 months. IBM also conducted a survey of more than 3,000 CIOs, revealing that 83 percent identified analytics as their top-priority investment area.

    Only time, and an accounting of actual spending at year end, will tell if all this encouraging prognosticating will come true, but one can’t help but be encouraged by the flood of good news. So start funding those IT projects, accomplish your goals, and make these predictions come true, SMBs.

    A copy of the IDC forecast is available for purchase here.

    RELATED STORIES

    Big Data is the Big Daddy of Priorities for Midmarket CIOs

    Too Much Data or Not Enough Analytics?

    Business Intelligence Biz to Grow But Cool Off a Bit

    IT Spending Curves Upward, Salaries Show Sign of Life

    Business Intelligence and Analytics Were Bright Spots Last Year

    Top 10 IBM i Product and Technology Trends for 2011



                         Post this story to del.icio.us
                   Post this story to Digg
        Post this story to Slashdot

    Share this:

    • Reddit
    • Facebook
    • LinkedIn
    • Twitter
    • Email

    Tags:

    Sponsored by
    WorksRight Software

    Do you need area code information?
    Do you need ZIP Code information?
    Do you need ZIP+4 information?
    Do you need city name information?
    Do you need county information?
    Do you need a nearest dealer locator system?

    We can HELP! We have affordable AS/400 software and data to do all of the above. Whether you need a simple city name retrieval system or a sophisticated CASS postal coding system, we have it for you!

    The ZIP/CITY system is based on 5-digit ZIP Codes. You can retrieve city names, state names, county names, area codes, time zones, latitude, longitude, and more just by knowing the ZIP Code. We supply information on all the latest area code changes. A nearest dealer locator function is also included. ZIP/CITY includes software, data, monthly updates, and unlimited support. The cost is $495 per year.

    PER/ZIP4 is a sophisticated CASS certified postal coding system for assigning ZIP Codes, ZIP+4, carrier route, and delivery point codes. PER/ZIP4 also provides county names and FIPS codes. PER/ZIP4 can be used interactively, in batch, and with callable programs. PER/ZIP4 includes software, data, monthly updates, and unlimited support. The cost is $3,900 for the first year, and $1,950 for renewal.

    Just call us and we’ll arrange for 30 days FREE use of either ZIP/CITY or PER/ZIP4.

    WorksRight Software, Inc.
    Phone: 601-856-8337
    Fax: 601-856-9432
    Email: software@worksright.com
    Website: www.worksright.com

    Share this:

    • Reddit
    • Facebook
    • LinkedIn
    • Twitter
    • Email

    IBM Distributing WSDL2RPG via Integrated Web Services for i SQL Implicit Cast of Character Strings and Numeric Values

    Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Volume 20, Number 22 -- June 20, 2011
THIS ISSUE SPONSORED BY:

Enforcive
Profound Logic Software
VAULT400
Linoma Software
WorksRight Software

Table of Contents

  • You’re Only As Old As The Programs You Run With
  • KS2 Expands IBM i Managed Services Biz Into Hosting, Co-Lo
  • DB2 for i: The Beating Heart of the IBM i Platform
  • As I See It: Nostalgic for Normal
  • Survey Says: 24 Hours Is The Disaster Recovery Target
  • Last Chance to Take the 2011 Top i Concerns Survey
  • The Good Word on U.S. SMB IT Spending
  • Outboard Disk Array Sales Keep Pace With Servers in Q1
  • How to Succeed In The i Biz By Really Trying
  • Education Matching Innovation: OCEAN Tech Conference

Content archive

  • The Four Hundred
  • Four Hundred Stuff
  • Four Hundred Guru

Recent Posts

  • The Power11 Transistor Count Discrepancies Explained – Sort Of
  • Is Your IBM i HA/DR Actually Tested – Or Just Installed?
  • Big Blue Delivers IBM i Customer Requests In ACS Update
  • New DbToo SDK Hooks RPG And Db2 For i To External Services
  • IBM i PTF Guide, Volume 27, Number 33
  • Tool Aims To Streamline Git Integration For Old School IBM i Devs
  • IBM To Add Full System Replication And FlashCopy To PowerHA
  • Guru: Decoding Base64 ASCII
  • The Price Tweaking Continues For Power Systems
  • IBM i PTF Guide, Volume 27, Numbers 31 And 32

Subscribe

To get news from IT Jungle sent to your inbox every week, subscribe to our newsletter.

Pages

  • About Us
  • Contact
  • Contributors
  • Four Hundred Monitor
  • IBM i PTF Guide
  • Media Kit
  • Subscribe

Search

Copyright © 2025 IT Jungle