Report:
Insight 2020 Technology Report: IT Trends for Midmarket and Small Business
In our report, we share the sentiments and IT strategies of midmarket and small businesses and examine how they’re tackling digital transformation, cloud technology, the modern workplace, IT procurement and more.
The partner dilemma for local and midmarket businesses
Most organizations depend on IT outsourcing for specialized skills — and this is especially true for Small and Midmarket Businesses (SMB). Our technology report found that 41% of SMBs use between six and 10 outside IT partners and an additional 24% turn to 10 or more for IT help.
However, IT leaders also report common pain points with vendors. 40% say vendors don’t understand small business needs and 44% lament it’s difficult to customize solutions to fit their unique challenges. With the complexity of vendor management and difficulty to develop custom solutions, SMBs may be feeling handicapped in their digital endeavors.
Winning the digital transformation journey with agility
IT professionals report the top three areas of their business that would benefit from digital transformation are customer experience, operational efficiency, and workforce productivity and collaboration.
Innovation in the works
95% report having implemented or have plans to begin a digital transformation initiative within the year.
Introducing new tech
57% say their business is very or extremely well-equipped to implement new technologies.
Adapting to change
64% believe their IT program is very or extremely flexible and able to adapt to organizational change.
Cloud is the future — but the path to get there is unclear.
Midmarket and small businesses recognize the value of cloud technology as a cost-effective and scalable solution to increase business agility, promote flexibility and meet both customer and workforce demands. However, companies are experiencing common security and budgeting challenges related to security and budget.
- 50% say governing and addressing evolving security requirements is a top barrier to migration.
- 56% struggle to compare cloud costs to current costs before migrating.
- 43% have a hard time planning and allocating budget for cloud consumption.
“A common challenge for midmarket and small business clients is cloud utilization. Companies don’t maximize their spend on the cloud environment or don’t utilize what they're already paying for. "
— Ed Schuber, Insight Market Leader, Northeast
Driving efficiency and a modern workplace
Companies recognize that improving their IT procurement processes and equipping teams with modern technology solutions drives greater productivity and efficiency.
Remote work
55% say their technology is very or extremely effective at enabling remote working.
Employee experience
66% say their workers encounter delays at least once a day due to ineffective collaboration tools.
Strategic focus
89% agree an optimized IT supply chain allows them to focus on advancing the business.
Downloadable content
About the report
The “Insight 2020 Technology Report: IT Trends for Midmarket and Small Business” is a culmination of industry research and interviews with 408 IT experts from North American companies ranging from 100–1,000 employees. This report is intended to provide an aggregate view of the current state of IT management and strategies for midmarket and small businesses. The report reveals common IT challenges for SMB, trends of successful IT strategies and more.
Get more in-depth insights.
Reach out to our media relations team to request an interview and gain a better understanding of IT for midmarket and small business.