October 30, 2008 – (HOSTSEARCH.COM) – A global study executed by Vanson Bourne Ltd. (http://www.vansonbourne.com/) on behalf of Microsoft (http://www.microsoft.com/) has indicated a significant level of IT sophistication amongst small businesses, coupled with an increasing demand for Software as a Service (SaaS). The study, which was conducted in France, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Russia, United Kingdom, Canada, USA, Australia, China and Japan, considered “how small businesses use and manage their IT”, as well as small businesses’ “attitudes toward hosted IT services”.
The research concluded that small businesses are “unsure of how to get access to higher quality IT services” and that the current economic circumstances mean small businesses are looking into ways of reducing IT costs. The report also suggested that while 78% of respondents in the United States feel that “bigger businesses gain an advantage from having more dedicated and sophisticated IT resources, 9% of small businesses in the U.S. and France do not have any IT at all. 48% of respondents suggested that hosted services would “allow them to focus more on their core business”. Full details of the report are available at Microsoft’s corporate website.
“Despite their varying businesses and greatly differing needs, many small businesses are becoming increasingly dependent on information technology and the internet for networking, communications and sales,” explained John Zanni, General Manager for Software + Services, Microsoft – Communications Sector. “As they become more web-savvy, we’re seeing that small businesses are starting to seriously consider hosted services to meet some of their IT needs. At this time of economic uncertainty, the benefits of buying IT services on a subscription basis become ever more apparent.”
“Today, using hosted software and services is an efficient way of getting high quality and professional communications services at a predictable cost without the need for upfront investments or time-consuming implementations or maintenance. As businesses can pay on a per-user, per-month basis, they can greatly reduce the cost, while still gaining enterprise-grade professional communications services like mobile email,” added Michael Korbacher, Director, EMEA Web & Application Hosting, Microsoft – Communications Sector. “Microsoft envisions a world of software plus services that consists of a broad blend of traditional applications and services available over the internet. As small businesses become more and more internet literate, the case for using software online will drive strong demand for service providers.”
