TechAisle out with “Eight Key SMB and Midmarket Trends.” Here they are:
- SMBs are digitally transforming into connected enterprises, but the complexity is challenging
- Centering on business agility, time to value, and operational resiliency for long-term growth
- Prioritizing profitability, innovation, growth cloud cost management, security
- Hybrid work is challenging and Return to the office is imminent as employees and employers are disconnected
- Expected revenue growth in 2023 is 5.8%, with 54% of SMBs likely to grow by more than 5%
- SMB IT spending increase in 2023 is expected to be 4.9%; 46% of SMBs will likely increase IT spending by more than 5%
- 29% of SMBs have a strong preference for OPEX-based, as-a-service purchase model
- Agility, time to value, meet scaling IT demand with a limited budget are key drivers of as-a-service technology adoption
And how about one from Analysis Mason? Their key trends.
- ‘Early adopters’ will drive SMB IT spending.
- Rising energy costs will affect SMBs’ IT spending decisions
- Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) initiatives will become a priority for SMBs
Who is SMBs spending with?
The analysis offers that SMBs are the new ‘enterprise-lite’ accounts, will look to managed service providers (MSPs) for more than IT management, and will spend more than 66 billion dollars on operators’ IT solutions (excluding communications).
What are SMBs spending on?
PC and device-as-a-service (PCDaaS) models will shift focus from device procurement to a fully integrated IT experience. The adoption of platform-as-a-service (PaaS) solutions will increase to drive IT resource efficiency for SMBs, and cyber security will remain a top priority.
Rapid growth in SMB spending on software-as-a-service (SaaS) solutions will be led by BI, enterprise resource planning (ERP), and line-of-business software.
A couple of data points from the list to extract:
As SMBs accelerate their digital transformation initiatives, especially those driven by post-pandemic trends, the ‘early adopters’ segment is expected to increase from about 10% of the 145 million SMBs worldwide to approximately 15%. These are SMBs that have typically adopted modern technologies and tested new features and product sets and, as a result, have spent more than the average on IT.
As a result, SMBs’ IT spending through MSPs is expected to grow 11% year-on-year from USD 279 billion in 2022 to USD 311 billion in 2023.
SMBs will increasingly look to telecom providers for IT advice, support, and services. According to the survey, 80% of SMBs consider taking IT services from operators.
Why do we care?
There isn’t necessarily anything groundbreaking here, although I was surprised by the shift in early adopters data. Five percent may not seem like a lot… but when I mention it’s 5 million SMBs, that’s a lot of companies.
I’ve mentioned that I disagree with TechAisle on the return to the office trend. We’ll see how that plays out.