SMB’s positive about growth in 2012 - The future’s rosy, the future’s Cloud

Encouragingly, and despite the uncertainty in market conditions, 60 per cent of SMBs were optimistic about 2012 and confirmed that they were ‘planning for growth’; with 50 per cent predicting that they would be increasing employee numbers. Other key findings were:

· 60 per cent of respondents said cloud was the most important area of investment

· 40 per cent of respondents will be planning more cautiously

· 70 per cent of respondents said that their ability to outsource would not be effected

· 53 per cent of respondents said that their attitude towards outsourcing and market conditions were not interlinked

Support from technology, Cloud in particular, has attributed to SMBs optimism with many realising that cloud technologies are flexible and scalable with low capital expenditure, enabling low risk growth and expansion in 2012. However, the results from this survey show that SMBs need to rethink their attitude towards outsourcing with 53 per cent confirming that they have an independent policy towards outsourcing that does not respond or reflect business conditions.

Tim Walker, Iconnyx Managing Director comments:

“What we have found from the survey results, and our own customers, is that SMBs are increasingly turning to cloud-based technologies to de-risk their plans for growth. The beauty of the cloud is that it provides SMBs with the agility and flexibility to respond to changing market conditions without the burden of large capital expenditure, something that resonates with SMBs during this period of economic uncertainty.”

Iconnyx was pleased with the survey results which act as a barometer of SMB attitudes and behaviour going into 2012.